Joint Custody
by Cheru-chu
Summary: "Arrangement?" "Yes, an arrangement," I looked at the green haired boy from behind my hands, "W-we could share him. H-he could spend time with you and time with me." He blinked, "Or I could just kill you." A story about an unfortunate girl who eventually bribes our favorite green-haired Gehenna prince into sharing Behemoth and all the ensuing chaos caused by the odd relationship.
1. Joint Custody

This is an Amaimon based (sort of Behemoth based *Yes Behemoth dies in the show but I'm choosing to ignore that fact because I have a license to creativity*) one-shot that I literally thought of while working. I actually really like the idea behind this. Although, I'm not entirely sure you guys are going to appreciate the ending so I'll just apologize for that ahead of time. Also, I want so badly to put my chari's surname first followed by her 'first' name (so to speak) in accordance with Japanese culture, but…I was worried you guys wouldn't follow that very well. So instead I'm westernizing her name and writing it as we would. Okay enough rambling! (I wasted so much of my life writing these pointless points that aren't really as pointless as I think they are and yet still pale in comparison to the point made by Amaimon's hair.) P.S. I tried my best to keep the characters in character, but it's hard to do it (I'll admit) so go ahead and call me on it in places where I failed miserably but do so with the mind of helping me improve, not just to say 'hey you screwed up, mwahahahahaha!'

Anyways, I do not own Amaimon or Behemoth or any other character from Blue Exorcist that may or may not randomly appear, just my story and my Character.

"_**He was like her favorite type of candy, she realized, a bit sour at first but all sweetness in the long run. Admittedly . . . that tartness was part of the allure all along."  
― Victoria Kahler, **__**Their Friend **__**Scarlet**_

**Joint Custody**

It was a day just like any other day; the sun was smiling down on me, except on those rare occasions when a cloud would momentarily hide it's face. The sidewalks were as busy as always; cars sped by during green lights and even sometimes during red, and Kotori Ueda, otherwise referenced as me, was running late. It really was a day just like any other.

For whatever reason, it never mattered how early I may leave point 'A' I will undoubtedly fail to reach point 'B' at any designated time. I still don't know why. It wasn't as if my sense of direction was so horrendous I'd get lost taking the same route I took every day. Although, considering I had absolutely no idea where I was, that was a debatable fact. However, this was undeniably _not_ the same path I took yesterday and the path I took yesterday was not the same path I took the day before. You see, following the same route would be a very simple matter even for me, _if_ I had every actually learned the trail to begin with. However, my mind tends to wander and because of this I've never paid much attention to wherever it was my feet had the compulsion to take me. They apparently had minds of their own.

And they apparently did not have the concept of taking me to work present in the workings of their little minds.

I furrowed my brows in slight annoyance but mainly in apprehension. The owner of the shop was a family friend who understood my awful curse quite well and was generally well accepting of my lack of punctuality in the fact that I won't lose my job. However, my ear was already aching in preparation for the earful I'd be hearing once I got there nonetheless.

As a sort of nervous habit I chewed vigorously both on my lips and my inner cheek. Then I proceeded to eye a little Ping-Pong-ball sized, round-eyed, black creature with a demonic tail that had rested itself on my shoulder. Sighing I brushed it off and watched it float away. Those little guys were everywhere and while I found them to be quite cute in a weird way, they were also a little annoying from time to time. Especially since no one else seemed to see them.

Anyways, how fortunate, a landmark I actually recognized! If I turned left here and proceeded down the street I would finally be at the candy shop, albeit a little, okay a lot late. I did just that and to no one's surprise my boss was standing before the shop entrance tapping her toes and crossing her arms. Needless to say, she was less than pleased with the timing of my arrival.

"Ms. Ueda, are you aware of the time?" I had barely reached the entrance and already she was baring her fangs.

"Maybe."

I jumped when my employer's face reddened and she nearly blew steam, I then withheld a giggle that threatened to escape my mouth when I pictured her head as being a crimson teapot with big brown eyes. Probably not the best thing to be doing in this scenario since if she caught me laughing at her she'd probably put me through an even worse version of hell than the one she already had prepared for me. "Maybe?! Young lady, I have repeated time and time again, that you **must** be present in the shop right at five thirty. It's six twenty. You're nearly an hour late. If this was any other shop you would be _**fired!...**_"

While she did continue to lecture me her words slowly faded away as my attention was drawn to the little black circular demons again. A couple of them had descended down onto the older woman's greying head and crowned her. As she spoke her head moved up and down just enough to make the little guys bounce a bit. It was both the cutest and funniest thing I had seen today; it was unfortunate no one else could see it, especially since they did make me laugh and I had no explicable excuse as to why. Thus I descended into an even deeper pit of hell. Whoopee.

"Kotori…" her voice lowered dangerously causing my attention to snap back to her and I raised my hands defensively; she used my first name…I was so going to die. "What exactly do you find so funny."

"…nothing." I failed to hold back a snicker as a few more invisible black demons joined the others and expanded the crown. The result was a solid smack to the side of the head, followed by the sensation of being dragged by the collar into the candy shop.

"**Just get to work before I do something we'll both regret**!"

I flinched before running to the back to get a frilly apron and yelling, "Yes ma'am!" I tied the back of the apron before heading to the front of the shop and starting to reorganize the candy and helping the mass amount of kids that came running in. And by help I mean keeping them from eating the candy without paying for it.

Ah the hardships of working in a candy shop.

* * *

Six Hours Later

"_**I'm an idealist. I don't know which way I'm going, but I'm on my way."**_

_**~Carl Sandburg.**_

* * *

I got off work fifty minutes ago at about eleven thirty. It was twelve twenty now and I still wasn't home. Just for your benefit, I am going to take the time now to emphasize the fact that I really don't have a bad sense of direction; everything just always looks so different in the dark so I don't really know where I exactly I'm going. Sighing, I pushed back my vivid cobalt curls that concealed my shoulders and glanced down at the free bag of candy I got at the end of my shift. I _really _wanted to eat it but if I tried to do so while lost I'd never figure out where my house was. (Not that I don't know…of course I know where my house is, I'm just not entirely sure where _I _am.)

Slumping my shoulders I closed my eyes and sighed. My feet were hurting from standing around at work and walking around afterwards. As cute as my little slippers were they were not made for walking. Eyeing a nearby park bench I quickly decided that I was going to go sit there. Which I then did in a rather unceremonious fashion considering I basically threw myself on it. Treating it more like a bed then a park bench, I laid down on my back and let my head hang over the edge so that I got a rather upside down view of the world.

At this point I was perfectly content with being a homeless hobo and wouldn't have minded falling asleep right then and there. I even closed my eyes in preparation. Perhaps it was by a stroke of good fortune or (more than likely) was just another curse, but a little animalistic whimper got my attention instead.

Frowning I opened my eyes and looked around in an attempt to pinpoint the source of the noise. At first I didn't see it, probably because I was looking at it in such an awkward fashion, but when I did see the creature I wasn't entirely sure if I should scream and run or help it.

I decided on a compromise, which consisted of screaming and hiding behind the park bench while I deliberated helping it.

Of course, for any of this to make sense to anyone I'll have to explain what exactly 'it' is. Honestly, I'm not entirely sure but it sounded like a hobgoblin, it walked sort of like a hobgoblin, and it looked an awful lot like a hobgoblin so my professional opinion is that it is, in fact, a hobgoblin. More specifically, an injured bleeding hobgoblin that was wearing a harness on its head with a leash attached to it.

It looked at me with a very pitiful face, and yet it still made me snicker. He was a rather cute hobgoblin much in the same way stupid, ugly dogs were adorable _because_ they were stupid and ugly. His eyes were teary and tired and he was whimpering which pulled on my heartstrings. However, his tongue was hanging out of his toothy mouth as well and he was lying upside down, which made him look quite funny.

Anyways, I stared at him wide-eyed for a little bit, but slowly as I watched him lie there writhing in obvious pain my face darkened with pity. Emerging from behind the bench I started approaching the injured goblin. Slowly, I didn't want to scare it since it looked like it would hurt if it bit me.

As I approached, it quieted down and narrowed its eyes at me. Then, as I continued my advance, it growled at me. I recoiled a little before scowling at the brute. I had had enough of stubborn kids for the day; I didn't plan on putting up with a stubborn hobgoblin too. Especially not when I was trying to help the stupid, yet adorable, thing. (Honestly, even I am aware that my tastes are a little on the weird side since no one else, if they could see it, would probably find this fiend cute.)

"Now you listen here," I started what was sure to be a senseless tirade that this little guy probably wouldn't understand (which would be what made the rant senseless in the first place), "I have, out of the very kindness of my heart, chosen to take time out of my schedule to stop and help you and if you want me to continue to shower you in my heartfelt compassion you'd better keep those teeth of yours to yourself. Got it?"

The response I received was not at all surprising. The goblin growled at me, again. I squeaked a little and took a step backwards, "okay so you don't got it…that or you really don't want my help." I was ready to turn and leave the creature to his despair when I noticed him eyeing my bag of candy with unmitigated curiosity. At least I think that's what he was ogling seeing as how his eyes followed its every movement. I glanced at the bag and then at the beast, a single eyebrow raised and a mischievous smirk adorning my face. "You don't like candy do you?"

The creature's face lit up the moment the word candy left my mouth which meant that was more than likely a word he _did_ understand. "_Candy_." I repeated, again his entire demeanor glowed with expectation and joy. It was really quite endearing to watch his mood swing back and forth and I couldn't stop an obstinate smile from appearing on my face.

Reaching into my bag I grabbed a piece of chocolate and unwrapped it. The entire time I was watching the goblin's mouth water and its tail thumped against the ground excitedly. If its foot wasn't injured I was quite certain he would have jumped me, which made me deeply obliged to the creatures corporal constraint since I am fairly confident I would not escape such an exchange unscathed.

Having finished unwrapping the candy bar I held it in front of my nose and dramatically sniffed it, "mmmm…_candy!_" In response to my action, the hobgoblin's tail started swinging back and forth with so much force the goblin's body was nearly swinging with it. I giggled in response and slowly began approaching the enthusiastic creature. This time around he did _not_ growl at me but almost seemed to welcome my presence instead.

When the chocolate was close enough the goblin suddenly found the energy to jump up and snatch the chocolate out of my hand with its teeth, nearly taking my hand with it in the process. I visibly paled as I looked at my still in tact hand and sighed in relief. No sooner did he take the treat was it gone and he was staring at me expectantly again. I, in turn, stared at him then raised an eyebrow, "if you behave and hold still I'll give you another piece, okay?"

I don't know if he was nodding his head in understanding or still enthusiastic about the candy but I assumed the earlier thought and reached out to touch his injured leg.

I wish I hadn't.

I really do.

Mainly, this is due to the fact that my assumption was inaccurate.

I know it was inaccurate because just as my hand brushed his injury the goblin bit me. Not gently either he drew blood. A lot of blood, and I reacted in the way that any normal girl would: I screamed bloody murder.

I would have pulled my hand away but it was still in the fiend's mouth so instead I simply gripped my wrist and whimpered pathetically. Looking from under my eyelashes and over my emerging tears, my brilliantly blue eyes pathetically regarded the creature that had latched onto my hand.

Then I turned my gaze to the crimson blood that was starting to slowly ooze from my wound and then trickle down my ivory hand, wrist, and forearm. The blood even threaded itself into my other hand, which I miserably used in an attempt to stop the pain pulsing up my arm in accord with my running blood.

Free flowing tears obscured my face as I glared at the demon. Removing my free hand from its place on my arm, I grabbed the harness around the fiend's head. Then pulling it towards my own face I head butted it as hard as I could. Yelping, it released my hand and we both fell to our backs releasing heartbreaking howls in harmony. It would have been quite comical for any onlooker that could see both of us, as well as for anyone who could only see me (of course, that is more the comedy of seeing a crazy person act out their delusions and hallucinations in public as opposed to watching two creatures mirror each other).

Never before have I been so happy to be the only one in an eerie and somewhat hoary park after dusk.

After that rather embarrassing display of pain I sat up, whilst holding my injured hand close to me, and scowled at the offender before me. Just as I opened my mouth to chastise the goblin the sound of what seemed to be animalistic snickers kissed my ears. Gradually my scowl receded into a dumb stare. This little creature was most assuredly laughing at me, and it would seem that the merriment was contagious because I quickly found it nearly impossible to keep my own chortles from leaving my lips.

We laughed together, and while it may have been an inappropriate time to be laughing, I couldn't deny the humor in our actions until now. Beginning with my being lost _again_ all the way to this point, it was all quite silly and laughing about it was a much better option than stressing about it. (For reminding me of that, I should really thank this ridiculous hobgoblin but I probably won't since he did bite me.)

Eventually I managed to calm down enough to wipe my tearstained face. As my hands glided across my face, however, I quickly realized a trail of blood followed making me appear much worse than I did originally. I tried again to clean my face but instead attempted it with my shoulder rather than my hand and arms; regrettably, it was not effective and I merely ended up with blood on my shoulder as well.

"_Outstanding._" Sarcasm dripped from every syllable that rolled off my tongue. Then turning to look at the goblin I pointed to the mess, which was me, and continued, "This is your fault you know." The goblin stared at me for a moment before slowly limping towards me.

Obviously I flinched away from the approach; after all it wouldn't surprise me if he planned on biting my other arm. To my surprise though, he didn't, rather he took one look at the hand he bit and then lightly licked it before moving to my face and proceeding to lick that clean.

Of course, I didn't just sit there and let him do it rather I tried desperately to move my face out of the way whilst asking the creature to stop. I was both ignored and over powered. Thinking on a positive note, at least this meant he liked me.

Probably liked me.

I _hope_ this meant he liked me, otherwise it meant he liked the way I tasted and I certainly don't want that.

Although considering I do work in a candy shop and could be covered in sugar, that could very well be the case. As the thought crossed my mind I froze in both shock and consideration before eying the goblin apprehensively. All the while he licked my face, shoulder, both arms, and both hands, seemingly without noticing that I had gone still. Fortunately, after a couple of minutes he came to a halt and sat back a somewhat crazed, yet still delightful, smile on his face.

Thank goodness, this probably meant he did _not _find me snack worthy. I looked myself over and yes he had gotten up all the blood (excluding the blood still flowing from my injured hand), however, I was now covered in goblin slobber. My gaze moved back to the goblin that was still seated with the same stupid, innocent smile on his face and I sighed then grinned back. "Thanks."

At least he tried to make up for his transgression, sort of. I'm not entirely convinced that he specifically thought the action through to that extent, but I'm perfectly satisfied with giving him credit for doing so nonetheless.

Of course, the fact that I was in serious need of a shower now did not change due to that. Also, the fact that I was in serious need of a bandage for both the goblin and I did not change either. I had plenty at my house considering I wasn't the most graceful person on the planet and was prone to injury, but my home was currently out of my reach.

On another note, I should seriously consider investing in a handheld gps. Not that I'm admitting to having a poor sense of direction, because I'm not. I am simply admitting it would be…more efficient.

No matter, at this point I _had_ to get home and I was going to take this little goblin with me whether he wanted to come or not. Although if he didn't want to come I don't really think I could force him, but I'll try to drag him with me nonetheless.

Eyeing the leash then the creature I gradually stood up. The goblin cocked his head and the grin left his face. When I was finally standing on my own two legs I saw the beast move towards me with a lightning quick movement. Before I realized what was happening I felt an extraordinary burden on my left foot that kept me from going anywhere and when I looked down I saw the goblin embracing it in an attempt to keep me from going anywhere.

The corners of my mouth turned upwards, and a small hum left my sealed lips. This guy was so cute but incredibly heavy. Leaning down my uninjured hand wrapped around his leash and immediately the creature's tail started to vibrate with elation. Glancing down at his harness I looked for a name-tag of sorts; he looked like he was someone's pet, although I wasn't entirely sure what type of person kept a demon as a pet (except for me considering I was taking him home). I found a little engraving that read, "Behemoth?"

The creature's ears perked and he growled somewhat affectionately. With a nod of approval I continued to speak, "It suits you. Now, Behemoth, could you let go of my leg now?" Lightly I pulled my leg from his grip and, with the leash still in hand, I slowly began to walk in the direction I thought my apartment was in. I momentarily felt the leash go taught, but only for a moment as Behemoth started to limp after me, a stupid grin to match my own was on his face the entire time.

* * *

Frankly, I don't believe it is important to state the time at which I finally found my apartment. We'll just say it was late, I was tired and leave it at that. Both Behemoth and I practically fell on the floor in front of my front door the second I locked it. It wasn't entirely due to the time or the blisters on my feet either, but it was also because I was feeling quite light headed due to the bite on my arm.

When it happened originally, I don't believe I was really aware of how deep the bite was, but fortunately, though it was deep enough to make me a little faint I still don't think it was bad to the extent of leaving a noticeable scar, maybe a little one.

My head cleared after a moments rest and I found myself standing and making my way towards the bathroom where I kept the first aid kit. I stumbled in the darkness only once before I smartly flipped a light switch. My lonely apartment was illuminated instantaneously and I sighed slightly. Technically I didn't live alone and yet I did. My father was a pilot and my mother was a flight attendant, which meant that when they worked they were gone for days, sometimes weeks at a time.

It offered me a lot of freedom, but since pets were not actually allowed in our apartment, it also meant I was very much alone. Which also had me wondering whether or not it was all right for Behemoth to be here. I turned my head and glanced back at the beast. Well, it wasn't like anyone else could see him and what the landowner didn't know couldn't hurt him.

Reaching the bathroom I opened the medicine cabinet and found the first aid kit. I then proceeded to wash the blood and slobber off my hand. Once that was completed I took some disinfectant and applied it to the injury, I squealed through bit lips as I did so because it burned so badly but I persisted nonetheless. In an attempt to ward off any scars I lathered on the Neosporin before wrapping my hand in a bandage (which was easier said than done with only one hand).

Having completed my self-care, I grabbed the kit and a wet washcloth and walked back out to the front door. However, I stopped dead in my tracks when I realized that Behemoth was not there. "Huh? Where'd he get off to?"

My question was answered by the sound of dishes clattering in the direction of my kitchen. Running off I found Behemoth digging through my cabinets. "Hungry?" At the sound of my voice the goblin turned to look at me blankly before a big toothy grin adorned his face and he ungracefully leaped towards me, knocking a few things off my counters in the process.

I giggled anxiously as he shoved me to the floor and nearly knocked me out, at the rate Behemoth was going, he was going to wake the neighbors and give me brain damage. Not to mention he was heavy and still on me. "Okay, okay! I'll feed you just get off me and let me bandage your arm." I was beginning to think that, despite his stupid façade, Behemoth was quite intelligent because no sooner did the words leave my mouth did he crawl off me and sit calmly at my side, waiting with his typical grin on his face.

I sat up and turned to face him, taking the washcloth I gently wiped off Behemoth's arm. He was calm for the moment and barely minded me. However, as I was reaching for the disinfectant I prepared for the worse. Semi-wild animals never handle pain well after all, and he had already bit me once.

Needless to say, I was right to worry. I no sooner tapped his injury that he let loose a crazed howl and raced around the room in a desperate attempt to escape from me.

I sighed as I stood up in preparation to chase down the goblin; this was going to be a really long night.

* * *

Two Weeks Later

"_**Animals are reliable, many full of love, true in their affections, predictable in their actions, grateful and loyal. Difficult standards for people to live up to."  
~Alfred A. Montapert**_

* * *

Closing my eyes, I welcomed the feel of the hot water against my skin. I truly love showers after a long day at work and chasing Behemoth around town. I couldn't say I minded, however. Ever since he started making me chase him my commutes have been reduced to being a mere thirty minutes. To be honest, I had no idea I could even get to work that quickly or on time for that matter.

Today had been an incredible day. I got to see the most curious of people, apparently he shared my regard for uniquely colored hair because this curious person had two-toned, spiked (and I mean one big horn on the top of his head), green hair and was staring rather suspiciously at the candy and me; he obviously wanted the candy and probably thought my cyan colored hair was strange. It was satirical really. You would think two people who insisted on having unusually colored hair would hardly notice when someone else had bizarre colored hair, but alas that was never the case.

In my defense, it wasn't just his hair that was unique; his clothes were pretty flamboyant too, and he did spend a preposterous amount of time staring endearingly at the candy through the window before he glanced at me with a noticeable amount of interest followed by apathy and walked away. Now that I think about it, the look on his face when he gazed at all the sweets kind of reminded me of Behemoth's face when he's doing the same thing.

Despite his strangeness, however, I found him unnaturally attractive. I felt my cheeks flair, and immediately my hand flew to my face; unsuccessfully, I tried to brush the blush off as the result of the hot shower. Man, sometimes I was such a girl.

A crash from my living room made me flinch and brought me out of me girly stupor; I grimaced. What was Behemoth up to now? Sighing, I turned off the shower and grabbed the nearest towel. In my haste, I only wrapped myself in the white cloth before rushing out into the sitting room in search of the assuredly broken object. I looked around the room and cocked my head at the sight before me, or rather the lack there of. Nothing was out of place and there was no Behemoth to be seen.

So I walked into the kitchen. Again, the little hobgoblin was out of sight. Hesitantly, I called out for the little demon, "Behemoth?" No sooner did the word leave my mouth did the towel leave my body and I fell backwards onto my ass due to my pathetic attempt to hold onto it. "BEHEMOTH!" My entire body turned red in embarrassment as I turned to glare at the fiend who had stolen my towel and left me in the nude on the kitchen floor.

I leapt to my feet, and immediately Behemoth ran in the opposite direction towards the living room, towel still in hand. Without much of a thought or care apart from: _I'm gonna kill him! (All in good fun of course)_ I quickly followed him. Our little game lasted three circles around the coffee table and couch before I skidded to a halt in front of the window and paled instantly.

I believe my muddled thoughts came in this order but to be honest they very well could have come at the same time for all I knew.

_There is a boy on my windowsill._

_He is staring at me._

_I am not wearing __**anything.**_

_He is the same boy from the candy store._

_This is the seventh floor._

_How did he get up here anyways?_

Then I shrieked, and he blinked. Still shrieking, I grabbed the nearest handy object, my house phone specifically, and threw it at him with as much force as I could muster while trying desperately to get away. Unfortunately, it did not hit him, but it did hit the window in front of his face so I think he got the message. Just in case he didn't, however, I continued to throw small objects at him. His eyebrows furrowed and he glanced at Behemoth a question obvious in his eyes.

Wait, he could _see_ Behemoth. Doesn't matter. He could _see_ my birthday suit and that came first. Backing up into the bathroom door, I felt around for the knob before pushing it open, retreating into the little restroom, and slamming the door closed. It was only then that I realized I was still screaming bloody murder and stopped. I also realized I was completely out of breath.

I jumped away from the door when I heard a voice, a boy's voice. The green-headed teenager was in my apartment I realized horrified. What did he want? He wasn't some creepy stalker was he? I shook my head in a vain attempt to calm myself down and dressed in the pajamas I brought with me into the bathroom. Fully dressed I cracked the door open and peeked out.

The first thing I noticed was laughter, giddy child like laughter and Behemoth's distinctly monstrous giggles. Huh? The first thing I saw was an unexpected and confusing sight to say the least. Behemoth and the green-haired peeping tom were…cuddling?

It was at that moment that I remembered that Behemoth had come with his name and harness and that meant that Behemoth had an owner before me. Could this boy be him? Not that it would make what just happened okay by any means, but at least I'd know he isn't a stalker.

I stepped out of the bathroom my face still a little red from embarrassment but nonetheless managing a deadly scowl. Before getting the green haired boy's attention, I picked up the empty flower vase that was sitting on an end table and prepared to bring it down on his head. Finally, I spoke, "Who are you!?" Behemoth and the strange boy immediately stopped what they were doing and turned to look at me.

The smile on the boy's face was adorable and I felt my angry resolve falter for a moment, fortunately his face fell into an apathetic stare when he saw me so I was able to harden myself again. His response aggravated me as well, "Who are _you_?" Why did I feel like he was mocking me?

"I asked you first!"

"…so?"

"So you have to answer first!" I raised the vase aggressively over him in an attempt to scare him into answering. His eyes narrowed on me and I recoiled and blinked. Apparently that millisecond during which my eyes were closed was all the time he needed because when my eyes reopened he was gone and so was the vase. "W-what the?"

"This isn't fun." I jumped and turned around to see the boy sitting on my ceiling while holding my vase. Unconsciously, I backed away from the gravity-defying boy and tripped over the coffee table landing unceremoniously on my ass yet again. After analyzing the porcelain container he tossed it aside and let it shatter on the ground. I closed my eyes and cringed when it crashed. I was going to be in so much trouble for that.

He then fell from the ceiling, but much like a cat landed gracefully on his feet in front of me rather than on his head like I was expecting. Afterwards, he leaned over me and stared me down with a still apathetic eye. This went on for a moment but he soon straightened up and turned towards Behemoth, "No fun. Lets go, Behemoth."

I had been sitting silently up until this point. However, I would not be silent anymore because he was **not** taking Behemoth. I stood to my feet just as Behemoth started following the boy to the window (why he doesn't just use the front door is beyond me, but whatever). "Behemoth, _**stay**_!" The goblin slid to a halt and turned to look at me a huge grin on his face. After a moment he sat down on the floor. The boy, who was in the middle of climbing out the window, stopped and stared.

His eyes narrowed on me and just as he turned to look at Behemoth he spoke, "Behemoth, come." The goblin looked at the boy and stood up.

"Behemoth, stay!" At the sound of my command he sat down again.

"Come." He stood.

"Stay!" He sat.

"Co-"

"Stay!" The boy, who was at the window a mere second ago was now standing in front of me and pulling my hair somewhat violently. The shock and pain caused by his sudden appearance and hold caused me to pathetically cry out in agony and caused my arms to fly up and grip his wrist.

"You interrupted me." He looked very unhappy, but despite the pain and the intimidation I steeled my nerves and glared at him.

"Yeah and you're petnapping Behemoth." He blinked at me.

"…pet…napping…?" All right, now he seemed puzzled as he stared at me.

I internally frowned, how did he not know what _petnapping_ was anyways? Wasn't it a pretty self-explanatory, general term? Was he raised under a rock or something (A/N: something like that)? Well no matter, I obviously needed to explain the term to him so I'd better do it now before he finds it necessary to pull my hair out. "Yes petnapping, as in kidnapping a pet," I paused for a moment and then added, "you know…stealing a living thing."

"I'm not stealing Behemoth, he's mine." Ah, so he was Behemoth's original owner. However, he neglected the poor goblin when he was injured and I've been taking care of him ever since and that meant that Behemoth belonged to me now.

Narrowing my eyes I responded, "Not anymore."

"Annoying people should just die." Yeah, annoying people _should_ d-wait, what? My eyes widened into saucers as he raised his free, seemingly clawed hand as if to stab me with it. He's kidding, right? No, I realized he wasn't when his hand came down on me and I slammed my eyes shut.

Suddenly he wasn't gripping my hair anymore and there was a rather loud crash coming from the kitchen followed by a rather loud exclamation that would be better left not repeated. I will, however, repeat what was said after that. "What'd you do that for Behemoth?" He sounded genuinely shocked and even emotionally distraught. Reopening my eyes I saw my angelic hobgoblin standing defensively (and quite apologetically) in front of me, and I saw a rather confused green haired boy sitting up against the damaged bottom of my kitchen counter. My parents were totally going to kill me when they got home.

I mean how exactly was I going to explain this wreckage to them? Oh yeah, my _invisible hobgoblin pet_ got into a _fight_ with a _green-haired_, _clownishly_ _dressed teenage boy_ who managed to break into our _seventh_ floor apartment by climbing in through a _window_.

Yep, that'll go over _real_ well. Please take special note of the sarcasm.

However, I'll deal with that problem when it arises. Until then I still had these two monstrosities to deal with. The green haired boy had not moved from his spot instead choosing to start brooding. It was a pity inducing sight. The poor boy looked as if someone had taken his favorite teddy bear and it made me feel extremely guilty. Swallowing whatever version of pride I possessed, I tiptoed in his direction and stopped just a few baby steps away from him before kneeling down. "Are you alright?"

He stared at Behemoth and I for a short moment before making a rather large show of scowling at me and then turning his face away, "Go away." The degree to which he was acting like a spoiled kid was amusing but also a little annoying. Fortunately I knew how best to deal with children.

I stood up and went straight for my candy cabinet. A cabinet Behemoth obviously recognized due to the way he started running around. Opening it, I retrieved a cherry flavored lollipop and went back to the green-haired boy. "You don't like _candy_ do you?" The boy was on me before the sentence had even left my mouth. Well not literally on me, his face was simply inches from mine with the lollipop being the only thing keeping our noses from touching. Through my blush I managed a giggle, he had the most eager look on his face as he eyed the piece of candy. I stopped giggling, however, when he eyed me with a-less-than-giggle-worthy look.

I blinked and much in the same fashion the vase had been removed from my hands the lollipop had as well. Except this time he was crouched on my kitchen counter rather than sitting on my ceiling. "I'll take that as a yes." He stared at me as he unwrapped the lollipop and popped it in his mouth. His tongue, which was unusually long and sent all sorts of erotic mental images of what he could do with it through my hormonal mind, wrapped itself around the candy and shifted the stick across his lips in a manner that I deemed rather sexy. My eyes widened in response to the scene. Instantaneously, I averted my eyes and felt my cheeks heat up. Honestly, I really needed to do something about my overactive hormones because I could really do without these awful thoughts.

After a second of cooling off I looked back at my kitchen counter and deadpanned. I could most certainly tell that Behemoth and this boy were related in some fashion. Why? Because they are both very skilled at disappearing. I only just met the boy and I could already swear that if I take my eyes off of either of them for more than a second they'd disappear and wreck some other part of my apartment. Anyways, the boy wasn't on my kitchen counter anymore. Actually, he wasn't in my kitchen at all. How he managed to slip by me when I was standing in the doorway I didn't know, but I wasn't going to put too much thought into it.

I turned around to check my living room only to come face to face with the boy's nose. He was on my ceiling again and staring at me. Rather than recoiling, however, I frowned and grabbed his arm. "Get down!" Yanking on his sleeve he fell to the floor, his foot knocked me on the head as he fell and I tumbled forward onto him.

I ended up lying on his chest somewhat dazed from the knock on the head and fall. In my peripheral vision, I saw Behemoth leap around excitedly before dashing towards us. The goblin then proceeded to nuzzle his way between us; quite comfortable with _both_ of us. I felt a pang in my chest.

Behemoth loved this nameless, green-haired boy. Could I really stomach separating them? No I couldn't…damn it! However, I love Behemoth too.

…

…

I guess that just leaves one option. First however, I needed to get off the boy. I sat up, awkwardly trying **not** to straddle him and failing miserably. To make matters even more uncomfortable, he just laid there sucking on his lollipop watching my struggle with an obvious amount of amusement. In the end, I did momentarily straddle him before managing to crawl away from the entire situation.

I sat facing the boy against the nearest wall and brought my knees to my chest. He sat up instantaneously and watched me with curious eyes that unnerved me. However, I still took a calming breath and opened my mouth to speak once again, "Let's start again. My name is Kotori Ueda. I found Behemoth injured in a park, brought him home, and took care of him," I paused, "and you are?"

He stared. He blinked. He sucked on the lollipop. He moved the stick of the lollipop across his lips in that manner that had me dreaming unladylike dreams…again. "Amaimon."

Well. That was about as helpful as…yeah, you fill in the blank. Well, at least he has a name now. I cleared my throat in an attempt to hide an annoyed grumble. I was fairly successful.

I had been hoping for an explanation for _how_ he managed to climb seven stories, move faster than a blink, defy gravity, and…had…pointed ears. Wait, what? I blinked and stared at his ears. Why in the world was he wearing cosplay pointy ears? And they look so real. Slowly, curiously, I crawled towards him and reached out for his ears. He sat up straight, stiffened, and his eyes narrowed as I approached. Sitting on my knees in front of him, I leaned in closer so that my hands could grip his ears.

I rubbed them gently and tugged playfully. My eyes widened, "Holy crap, they're real!" I looked up at his face, which, I realized now, was only a few inches away. My eyes widened in surprise and my face flushed as I retreated back to my spot on the wall. Afterwards, I pointed an accusing finger at Amaimon, "Why are your ears pointed?!"

He rubbed his cheeks, which seemed a little pinker than before, before he returned to normal and responded in a bored tone. "I'm a demon…Behemoth is my familiar and kin."

How was I supposed to respond to that? I couldn't very well deny the existence of demons considering I had been living with one for the past few weeks. Plus, that seemed like a relatively acceptable explanation for all of my questions. Just my luck. My apartment was being wrecked by two demons, one of which was trying to kidnap the other, who also happened to originally be his familiar.

Seriously, what were the chances of this?

"…O-oh." I scratched the back of my head and looked at Behemoth and then back at Amaimon. "Well, I've grown rather attached to Behemoth too and I'm not willing to completely give him up."

The boy raised his hand in order to strike me and I flinched away from him and covered my face, yelling all the while, "BUT!" He halted, "I-I think we could come to an a-a-arrangement."

"Arrangement?"

"Yes, an arrangement," I looked at him from behind my hands, "W-we could share him. H-he could spend time with you and time with me."

He blinked, "Killing you is easier." His hand moved and I cowered behind my hands again.

Instinctually, I screamed the only thing I could think to scream, "I HAVE CANDY!" Surprisingly, his hand stilled and he gave me a curious look that told me to continue with my obvious bribe. "I work at a candy shop and get a free bag of any candy I want after every shift I'll give it to you in exchange for time with Behemoth. I'd get him…every other day…maybe."

There was a pregnant pause. An extended silence. I froze when I felt a hand reach around mine raised ones in order to grip my hair again. This time, however, it was a little less painful and less forceful since I don't think he was angry so much as wanting to talk to me face to face, without obstruction. He stared me down for a short time before he finally spoke with a surprising amount of enthusiasm, "I like cherry lollipops."

"Cherry…lollipops…okay, I can do that."

* * *

~Fin~

"_**Endings to be useful must be inconclusive."  
~ Samuel R. Delany**_


	2. Playing at Punctuality

So despite my insistence that "Joint Custody" is, in fact, a one-shot I thought of this cute little continuation for it. Little kind of being relative. Anyways, enjoy this little addition to my story that more than likely will be the last one unless I think of another one since I seem prone to doing this. I would like to clarify that while they are connected to each other and I may end up adding more one-shot additions every so often when I think of them, this is still a completed story and is in fact a one shot with multiple (maybe…doubtful) epilogues (so to speak). This is not a chapter 2. This is another one shot that serves kind of like an epilogue to Joint Custody (does this make sense?). Well, unless someone is capable of convincing me otherwise (Good luck with that). Anyways, as a long overdue thank you for the positive feedback to my first posted story I present to you Playing at Punctuality. As a forewarning I didn't do much by way of editing this time around so I apologize deeply for any glaring errors that may make reading it annoying. _ Also, I'm sorry if Amaimon seems out of character at all – I tried my best to keep him in character but as I said before I'm not always the best at that.

On another note, I don't own any Blue Exorcist characters or plots, just _my_ character and _my_ story.

"_**The while we keep a man waiting, he reflects on our shortcomings."**_

_**(French Proverb)**_

**Playing at Punctuality**

While the notion that I could actually beat the shit out of a demon of any kind was a very silly one, I still entertained the idea as I pictured all the different ways I could possibly brutally scar the face of a certain green haired demon.

Amaimon.

It had been two days since I had made a deal with that devil. It had been two hours since I arrived at our meeting place at the park _on time_. Which, if you knew anything about me, was a rare and special occurrence as it is. Yet, life laughs at me after making me the butt of yet another one of its jokes by pairing me with a demon that obviously had even less of a sense of punctuality than I do.

Figures.

I glanced down at my hands and proceeded to scowl at the bag of cherry lollipops I had so carefully picked out at the demon's request. Yes, it was a bribe. It was so obviously a bribe I actually feel ashamed to be carrying it around. A bag of cherry lollipops – who ever knew it would become the symbol of my shame? The symbol of the two things my parents told me never to do. Perhaps they didn't come out and say: Don't make a deal with a devil and certainly don't bribe one into doing it so that you can adopt a demon as a pet. But I'm sure in the course of my life and the grand scheme of my childhood it was implied.

Basically.

Don't tell my parents the reason I'm indignantly loitering in this park with a bag of candy composed entirely of cherry lollipops and scaring away small curious children that may or may not have wanted to play a game within twenty feet of me.

Suddenly, I had a brand new respect for all the people who had put up with me for all of these years. The world only knows how aggravated I am waiting for Amaimon; I can only imagine how my boss and friends must feel after having to consistently wait for me. I'd have to pick out a few gifts of thanks for them all at some point in time. Preferably, soon. However, I'd consider that at a later date. Right now I would much rather be considering everything that Amaimon had done wrong in the very short time I had known him.

First he breaks into my apartment via the window after humiliatingly peering at my naked body. The pervert. Then he's rude to me in my own house. Tries to _**kill**_ me _twice_. Breaks my parents' favorite vase. Damages the island in my kitchen. Left footprints on my ceiling _and_ counters. Then ultimately leaves with Behemoth out the same window he came in through (because for some reason he is strangely adverse to using front doors [was that a demon thing?]) whilst arrogantly commanding me (now that's totally a demon thing) to be here two hours ago with a bag of the candy of his choice (and without offering to fix all the destruction he caused). Which, despite the damage it did to my pride to obey his narcissistic edict, I did do. Is he here? No. He is not. He's probably somewhere laughing at me since he never planned on showing up in the first place.

I can't believe I let myself play the fool.

Even more so, I can't believe I actually trusted a demon of all things. What kind of idiot trusts a demon? Or thinks that a bag of candy is enough to convince one to actually make a deal of any kind? Demons eat souls not candy. Right?

I sighed. It was a long and loud sigh. My body slackened as I emptied my lungs and my eyes stared blankly at the ground. "I suppose there's no point in waiting for someone who isn't coming…" I sniffled and my vision blurred, "…_Behemoth…_" I looked up and sucked in air, preparing myself for a prolonged wail of anguish. Fortunately for everyone around me, the shriek caught in my throat when a bobbing green horn entered my line of sight.

He _did_ show up. Apparently candy is as good as an incentive as a soul is. At least it was in _his_ case. Gratefully, I clutched the candy to my chest. Then I angrily stomped forward ready to bite his head off. Metaphorically, of course. I am human, so literally biting someone's head off is asking a little too much of me. Although, I suppose I could ask Behemoth to do it for me.

I halted my march right in front of Amaimon. To my dismay, he towered over me and that made intimidating the teenage demon far more difficult than I would have liked. No matter, I would display the extent of my displeasure with or without superior stature.

"Good _**evening**_, _Amaimon_." I emphasized the time as best as I could in hopes the demon could catch on to the source of my abundant, overt, aggravation. My hopes were dashed quickly when he mumbled some vague, unintelligible response and failed to look up from his hands. Slowly, I could feel my rage start to flood my mind. I was fighting a losing battle for control with myself, but I'd hold on as long as possible. "I am not sure if you're _aware_ of this but…you're _very_ _**late**_." Again an unintelligible quiet mumble and not even a glance away from his hand.

What could possibly be so interesting that he would ignore me? I looked down and saw something quite unbelievable. Although, it wasn't unbelievable because it was particularly extraordinary, but rather it was so ordinary I found myself staring in awe.

A Chinese Finger Trap.

His index fingers were caught in the finger cuff and he was quite clearly trying desperately to free them. I looked back up at Amaimon's face. His brows were furrowed in apparent confusion and aggravation as he glared at the gag toy. Had he really never seen one of these before? Watching him struggle with the puzzle made it quite apparent that he obviously hadn't. "Amaimon?"

Nothing.

"Amaimo~on?"

"…" A slight rustle of his shoulders. Well, that was something I suppose. Though it still was not enough to sate me. I knelt down in front of Amaimon and placed my face between his line of sight and the finger trap.

"Hello, Amaimon. You're late, and I don't see Behemoth anywhere." He stared at me. No wait. Scratch that. He blinked twice.

"My fingers are stuck." My eye twitched a little. He completely ignored what I said. No wait. Scratch that. Again. It was more like he thought that was a suitable explanation for my underlying questions.

"You don't say." I ground out each syllable, sarcasm and irritation battling for superiority as I did. Standing up straight I sharply turned around fully prepared to march away, but I was stopped by a familiar playful growl followed by the sensation of a large object colliding with my back and knocking me forward and to the ground. "Oof!"

Welp, I found Behemoth – or rather I suppose he found me.

While I was happy to see him and overjoyed to know he was so happy to see me (something made clear by the large number of sloppy kisses he was laying on my cheeks as I turned to look at him), I still fought to get him off me. For two reasons, the first was because there were an embarrassing number of eyes set on my form as I struggled with what seemed to them to be an imaginary friend. The second, and far more important reason was that he was heavy and I couldn't breathe for as long as he sat on my back.

After a few grunts and desperate pleas for him to please get off me, he complied and sat patiently with that goofy grin of his that I came to adore so much and waited for me to get up off the dirt. As soon as I had caught my breath and dusted myself off, I found myself leaning down to give him a big welcoming hug. "Oh, Behemoth! I missed you so much!" He responded with a strange rumble that sounded something like a sick cat trying to purr. It was adorable (although some may disagree with me) and I found my already present grin widening.

Then I heard an annoyed grunt from above our heads.

Oh yeah, I had momentarily forgotten about Amaimon and my anger at his tardiness. Releasing Behemoth from my embrace, I stood up rather suddenly and faced the green haired demon. He was in the middle of holding his hands (and as a result the still attached finger trap) above his head in a fashion that implied he was very deeply analyzing the device. He was still quite obviously confused by the toy. Doing my best to ignore the cuteness of his childish antics, I held the bag of candy in front of the demon's face; admittedly my movements were a little mechanical as I fought to maintain my serious façade – I really couldn't help wanting to smile like a goof at his dilemma.

Nonetheless, I fought and won the battle against myself and did _not_ smile. Rather I spoke in a surprisingly still irritated-like manner, "Your candy."

As with my first encounter with the demon, the word candy was more than enough to get his attention and as a result his gaze snapped from his hands to the bag and I. A joyous, adorable, and childish smile graced his lips as he excitedly tried to reach for my offering.

Yet, as he did so a frown gradually replaced his grin. Why? Well, this was clearly due to the finger trap still attached his index fingers. My lips twitched. The smile was coming. And, as I watched him desperately trying to figure out a way out of the toy's grip so that he could grab the candy, there really was no stopping it.

A small giggle came out of my mouth; realizing my mistake however, my free hand quickly flew to my mouth to try and halt the sound. I was largely successful but unfortunately I couldn't take back my already uttered chuckle. Innocently, I looked up at Amaimon who was now giving me a cross look. Yet, despite his intimidating glare the tangled up position of his arms around his face ushered yet another snicker from my lips.

"_Stop_ laughing." This clear threat was dripping with menace and immediately I drew back a step and my snickers stopped. Seemingly satisfied with my response, he went back to his original activity.

By this point, my anger had been dissolved and replaced by amusement, pity, and perhaps a lingering feeling of fear from his glare and threat. I felt my eyes squint a little as a fond smile settled on my face. Sighing in resignation to my desire to help him, I hung the handle of the candy bag on my wrist and held my two free hands out to him. "Here, let me show you how to free yourself."

He stopped moving momentarily and looked at me in minor surprise before he blinked and his emotionless face reappeared. Then he went back to his previous actions, clearly ignoring me. My nose and eye twitched as I felt the aggravation clawing at me again. Wisely, I took a calming breath before I opened my mouth to speak again, "If you let me help you, you'll get your cherry flavored lollipops that much faster."

He stopped again; it was a sudden sort of shocked halt that told me I pressed the right button.

After a moment of staring blankly at me, he stiffly lowered his hands into mine. He looked extremely discontent with having to accept my help, but it didn't really bother me. Contrary, I actually thought it was kind of funny and found the entire situation to be surprisingly entertaining.

Gently, I allowed my hands to wrap partially around his much larger ones. They felt kind of rough to the touch and I found myself unconsciously exploring the history his hands told. He had callouses and scars, especially around his knuckles, which told me he's had plenty of opportunities to punch something.

As I became more aware of this exploration my face brightened in color.

I was holding hands with a boy. An attractive boy.

Yes, he was a demon.

But he was still a male to which I was attracted to, and I was totally holding and accidently exploring his hands. I bit down on my lower lip and lowered my head slightly, the first done to avoid any fan-girlish squeaks that may try to slip out, the second to keep him from seeing my enflamed cheeks.

Anyways, refocusing on the reason I was holding his hands at all, I lightly guided them closer together. I was initially met with some resistance on his part, but not so much that I was unsuccessful in my attempt to free him. No instead, when the trap loosened around his fingers I quickly released his hands and pulled it away thus making him a free man once more.

Upon his release I heard a surprised, excited, and somewhat giddy exclamation. Curious, I looked back up at him (still fully conscious of the fact my cheeks were pink) and felt my face heat up further. His face was once again mere inches from mine (he had no sense of personal space apparently since he did the same thing when I first met him) as he stared blankly, yet somehow still expectantly at me. "How did you _do_ that?"

I stared dumbly at him for a moment and retreated backwards a step in an attempt to put some space between us. Unfortunately, he followed. Yet, with his awe and curiosity written on his face in the way they were I couldn't get annoyed with him for invading my bubble. Of course, that didn't mean I was any less flustered. "W-well – you know – I mean – It's not that hard. You just loosen the finger trap before you pull your fingers apart."

He blinked. And then continued staring at me expectantly.

I sighed and looked down at the finger trap before sticking my own fingers in the toy. "Here, just watch me." Rather quickly, and in a somewhat ridiculous yet still somehow graceful way, he crouched in front of my hands so that he was at eyelevel and had a very clear view of what I was doing.

I glanced around. People were staring and I felt the blush disappear as the blood drained away from my face in horror only to return as the embarrassment set in again. He was so weird.

Swallowing the lump in my throat and doing my best to ignore the mass of gazes I slowly removed the finger trap from my fingers. "You push your fingers together, then, when the trap's loose, you hold it in place with your thumbs and middle fingers while you pull your index fingers out."

I watched as his face lit up with sudden understanding. And despite the fact he still wasn't smiling, his eyes glimmered with an excitement that honestly looked like he had just discovered the world's greatest secret and his excitement was contagious. "Here you try again."

Handing the toy back to the demon. I watched him place his fingers in the trap once more. Then I waited. And I waited. And I waited. And I waited some more.

What was he waiting for? I wondered as I watched him stare blankly at his trapped hands. My eyebrows furrowed and just as I was about to say something he pulled his fingers apart and ripped the finger trap in half. I gawked in shock and amazement at what had just happened.

He blinked a few times and his shoulders dropped in disappointment at his failed performance. "But brother told me not to do that." He looked at the broken toy and then blankly at me, "I don't understand…"

_Brother?_ Amaimon had a brother? Who apparently gave him the finger trap that made him late and caused me to waste two hours of my life? How dare he. Internally I fumed at the thought of the brother I had never met before refocusing my attention on the male in front of me. "You didn't push your fingers together first, you just pulled apart…" I trailed off as I realized just how strong one has to be to rip one of those toys in half like that and with the extraordinary amount of ease Amaimon had displayed when he did so.

It was admittedly both impressive and terrifying.

He stared at me completely indifferently as he waited for me to continue my sentence. As a result, I shook my head in an attempt to shake off my fear and awe before I spoke again, "You just need more practice."

We simultaneously looked at the broken toy before we looked at each other again. "Uh, you can't practice with that one I suppose." His shoulders sank even further in response to my comment, clearly in disappointment and being a big pushover (something I was only now realizing I was) I simply couldn't leave him to his own devices. Giving him the brightest smile I could managed I spoke, "Welp, I guess we're just going to have to go get you some more to practice with then."

I didn't give him the opportunity to say anything because frankly I had a feeling that whatever he said would probably be unkind. Instead, I quickly handed him the candy bag and turned to find Behemoth who had unsurprisingly disappeared from my side. A quick glance over the park was all I needed to find the missing beast and to my horror I found him getting ready to pounce upon and eat a yappy little Chihuahua. As fast as I could and in a voice sounding as panicked as I felt I yelled out to the fiend, "**BEHEMOTH!**"

Without a second thought, I grabbed the sleeve of the green-haired demon standing next to me and rushed off to stop the disaster waiting to happen – that disaster being Behemoth eating someone's pet dog (just in case you hadn't figured that out). All the while, I was dragging the bemused Amaimon behind me – it wouldn't strike me as odd that he didn't seem to find issue with my manhandling until much _much_ later.

* * *

"_**By chance we met, by choice we become friends."**_

_**~Millie Huang**_

* * *

"Hey! That's cheating, Amaimon! You're not allowed to shake the machine!" I quickly grasped the arm of the green haired demon before he could break the coin game in front of us or get us kicked out of the arcade.

"Why? You said we had to knock those coins over the edge." He stared at me as he spoke. He sounded confused, but as per usual, his face was void of any emotion.

I frowned and I felt a bead of sweat roll down my temple. It took all I had to resist face palming, "you're supposed to drop your _own_ quarters in and use _those_ and the _moving wall_ to push the quarter over the edge! You can get us in trouble if you shake the machine!"

"But you did that already and nothing happened."

"It's part of the game!"

"I don't like it." With those words he removed his hand from the machine and resumed sucking on one of his many cherry flavored lollipops. I sighed in relief: I really didn't want to reimburse the arcade for breaking one of these games.

I suppose I should probably explain why I was in an arcade with the demon at all. Well, to put it simply, I didn't know where else to get Chinese Finger Traps except at this arcade where they were offered as consolation prizes. Thus, we were here (after telling Behemoth to stay patiently seated outside), spending _my _quarters and trying to win tickets. Honestly, we weren't doing that bad. We had already exchanged quite a few for a whole bunch of finger traps, more than I realistically thought we needed. The only reason we were still here is because we were actually enjoying ourselves despite my having to make sure he doesn't break anything (although, even the small arguments we had concerning those kinds of things was rather amusing) and the fact that Amaimon didn't like this particular game.

We'd already played the roulette wheel – it was where we got most of the tickets – and the green-haired teenager was very amused with the 'spinning human creation' as he called it. I also got to watch Amaimon's incredible skills; he literally got jackpot almost every single time. I had a sinking suspicion it had something to do with his being a demon and more than likely having weirdly good vision that made him able to tell when to stop the wheel, but I wasn't complaining.

That being said, I did make the decision to lead him away from that particular machine and to the coin game when the workers started giving us suspicious glances. Now I was showing him Skee Ball – one of my favorites.

I totally rocked Skee Ball. "Okay, so after you give it a quarter it gives you a bunch of these little balls that you have to roll down this path and into one of those holes. You want to aim for the ones with the highest points." As I explained the game I took one of the balls given to me and threw it into the center hole. Upon successfully hitting my target I cheered and threw my fists into the air in celebration.

"That's not that hard." My cheers came to a halt as I turned to face the demon with an irritated scowl on my face.

"Oh, really? Then let's see you beat my high score, if you can't I'm confiscating that lollipop." I pointed at the lollipop in his mouth.

He blinked at me a few times. Then, much to my surprise and aggravation, he bit down on the hard candy shattering in his mouth and swallowed. There was an awkward moment of silence during which we had a stare down that he won because I had to blink. With a twitch of my nose I responded, "Okay, so I won't be confiscating _that_ particular lollipop. _Anyways_," I turned around and stuck a quarter in the skee ball machine next to the one I was using, "you use this one and I'll keep using that one. The person with the highest score wins."

"What do I get when I win?"

"_If_ you win…_bragging rights?_"

"Bragging rights?" He cocked his head at me.

I giggled, "Yeah, you can brag as much as you want about beating me and I'm not allowed to say anything."

"Why can't I do that anyways?"

"You just can't."

"Why?"

"Because."

"Because why?" I looked at the demon and another stare down commenced. He won it again because I had to blink again.

"Just play the game please." He giggled a little as he picked up one of the balls, which totally threw me off and lead to my not noticing when he started throwing with way too much strength. The resounding bang and crash made me flinch and I felt the blood drain from my face as I looked on in horror.

He broke the machine. I shouldn't of been surprised and perhaps it was stupid of me to introduce a demon, who clearly had limited experience in the human world, to a game that required he throw something, and yet here I stood dumbly wondering what in the world I was going to do.

The one thing I did know for certain is I wouldn't be coming back to this arcade ever again. I heard Amaimon's voice, "I think I broke it." I almost could have laughed at the deadpan way he said that – unfortunately I was still far too horrified to laugh at anything.

"No kidding." My voice was squeaky.

"Human things are really breakable."

"Yeah." My voice was still really squeaky. I jumped when I heard the sound of rushed footsteps. No doubt the employee was coming to find out what had happened and I was rooted to the spot wondering how I was going to convince the guy to forgive me without having to pay for the damages.

The worker soon arrived and immediately turned to Amaimon, "What happened?" he asked with a clear amount of annoyance.

I already knew that Amaimon wouldn't have been able to have a proper conversation with the guy – I wasn't entirely sure he wouldn't attack the poor man – so I stepped between him and the employee. I also took the liberty of responding to his question on the demon's behalf, "I'm so sorry, we were playing with the skee balls and accidently threw one of the balls too hard…" I let myself trail off so that the man could fill in the obvious blank.

He was clearly very angry with _both_ of us, but, realizing I was the only one he was going to be talking to, he said a few choice words to me alone. I kept my head guiltily bowed as I continuously apologized for the damages. I really did feel awful about what had happened but I don't really think he believed me judging by the way he tore into me.

After about thirty minutes of apologizing (not to mention being made to feel like a completely awful human being) and talking things over with the man he finally let us leave (only after promising not to return), and, of course, I left with a big bill I now had to pay.

On the one hand I was very angry with Amaimon, but on the other I felt like it was my fault as well. As a general whole I felt awful; paying that bill was going to take all of my summer savings from working at the candy shop and that really sucked.

Standing outside the arcade, I turned and found Behemoth sitting exactly where he was supposed to be. I smiled. Then with a large sigh I turned back to Amaimon and handed him the bag of Chinese Finger Traps. "Well here you are. Don't forget what I told you." I smiled – it was a little forced but I think I managed to play it off well.

He looked at the bag and then at me. Without a word or a facial expression, he claimed my offering. Afterwards, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a lollipop.

To my surprise, he held it out to me. "I broke the machine, so I lost right?" He frowned a little, as if he hated the idea that he lost at something.

I stared dumbly at the candy and then at him. At first I really didn't know what to think about the situation. It didn't seem very like him to be offering me anything, least of all one of his precious pieces of candy. Furthermore, I wasn't sure if he was doing this because he felt he had to for 'losing', or if he was doing it to cheer me up. Heck, he could even be trying to apologize in his own weird way…although, that was probably pushing it…okay so that was totally pushing it. But hey, I'm allowed to have a fantasy or two.

Slowly a warm smile graced my lips, I really just couldn't hate this guy. Reaching out I took the lollipop from him, unwrapped, and popped it into my mouth. "I didn't get to finish my game either so it was more like a draw. But I'll take this lollipop anyways."

"Wha- but then I could have kept it." His voice sounded a little whiny and as a result I couldn't stop the teasing smile from forming on my face.

"We'll just have to have a rematch sometime – maybe a different game and place though. But if you think you can handle it, I'll bring an extra cherry lollipop."

"I want _that_ one."

I frowned, a little confused, "But I already put this one in my mouth." Suddenly, I felt the lollipop being pulled from my lips with a loud and silly sounding _pop_. "HEY!" I exclaimed reaching out for my stolen candy. "Give that back!"

"I don't want to." He stated in his usual monotone as he held it above my head and just out of my reach forcing me to jump up and down in an attempt to attain my pilfered sweet. I stopped when I heard a laugh; turning to look at Amaimon, I saw that while he teased me a smile – the same one I had seen when I first observed him interacting with Behemoth two day ago – had appeared on his face.

He was laughing at me! I huffed and stomped my foot, "I'm leaving now." I stated matter-of-factly before turning on my heel and calling to Behemoth, "Behemoth, let's go home."

The little beast sat up excitedly and quickly ran to my side, before skipping ahead of me stopping and looking back at me with a playful grin. My days of chasing after Behemoth were about to resume I realize, but just before I took off after him Amaimon called out to me, "See you." I turned to look at him and immediately felt my face flush.

He was sucking on the lollipop I had just had in my mouth. Stuttering I managed to yell back, "Don't be late next time!"

* * *

"_**Let's**__** go back, I know it's been a minute. But I can do it better than I did when I did it. You were loving me, I was loving you. You can come over and we can have deja vu."**_

_**~Mike Posner**_

* * *

He was late!

He was two freaking hours late!

AGAIN!

I swear, if it was another Chinese Finger Trap I was going to smack him demon or not. Screw the possible violent backlash that would come with my doing that.

Mind you, it wasn't necessarily that I wanted him to take Behemoth away. Contrary, I wanted to keep my companion for as long as possible – but rather I was aggravated that I was once again _on time_ and he was _late_! Well whatever, I wasn't going to let it bother me. Not when I had so much extra time with my adorable hobgoblin who…was now trying to eat a stray cat.

"Behemoth! No! Put that kitty down!" I ran towards the fiend yelling, "You don't know where that's been!" Humorously, it was only after I yelled those final words that he actually spit the poor cat out of his mouth. Although, I doubt it was because of what I said.

Actually, I think he did it because it was easier to run away if he didn't have a thrashing cat in his mouth and he would much rather be playing tag with me than eating the stray. Why? Well because as I got close to him he ran away. He was much faster than me, which means he was able to run really far away, stop, wait for me to get close, then run away again.

He and Amaimon clearly had a lot in common – specifically when it came to teasing me. My last encounter with Amaimon left me red in the face because of his teasing. That _was_ what he was doing when he held that lollipop out of my reach and then stuck it in his mouth right?

Just thinking about it made me flush. Well, that _and_ my desperate panting and fast paced heartbeat caused by my running around the park chasing Behemoth. After tripping one too many times I finally gave up and decided that I was just going to lie where I was while I caught my breath. As I lay there my thoughts slowly drifted back to my parting words.

Was I not clear enough when I said not to be late? Because I thought I was clear enough. I mean I specifically said: _Don't be late next time!_ What was there to misunderstand?

I giggled as my face was met with a big sloppy tongue! "Behemoth! No! Stop it!" My begging him to stop was admittedly not very convincing considering I was laughing as loudly as I was, but he did stop when I asked him too nonetheless. He was such a good boy…well…sometimes. Sometimes he wasn't such a good boy. But I loved him even when he acted like the little demon I knew he was.

The goblin nestled himself up against me after he stopped attacking my face and I took to rubbing him gently right between his eyes – something I had discovered he rather enjoyed. Again, he purred in that weird dying cat way that always made me chuckle due to the sheer adorableness of it (not that anyone else would think it was cute). "Good boy, Behemoth."

Quite comfortable with my current position – despite the fact that parents were literally ushering their children away from the 'crazy girl' – I let my thoughts wander back to the time I spent with Amaimon and the things I'd learned about him.

First off, and as mentioned before, he has an older brother. Knowing what Amaimon looks like and understanding that since the green-haired boy was a demon then his brother must be too, the mental I summoned in my mind to represent his brother was a strange mix of flamboyant, a little strange, yet still strangely attractive. I kept picturing him with green hair but got the strange feeling that that particular physical trait might be a feature isolated to Amaimon. So because of that his brother's possible hair color kept changing.

The only I felt I knew for sure I got right was that he'd probably have pointy ears, fangs, and a really…unique personality. Perhaps even a strange obsession with candy.

Not that it mattered I suppose since I would probably never meet him. But can you blame me for wanting to know what such a strange person's family is like. Plus, according to Amaimon's words his brother was the one that gave him the gag toy that made him late. So I couldn't help but wonder what in the world he was thinking and whether or not he was more familiar with the human realm (and if so why?).

Then I found my mind wandering back to Amaimon's teasing. The longer I thought about it the more I thought he might have been doing it as a way of –

"GAH!" I squealed as all the air left my body and I curled up into a little ball holding my stomach. "Behemoth…that hurt…" I could cry. My demon pet had for some reason gotten far too excited and stomped on me in a clear attempt to reach my other side. I gazed after the fiend only to have my eyes met with the image of shoes. Brown shoes with decorative gold skulls on them and upturned pointed toes specifically.

There was only one person I knew of that would wear shoes like that. My eyes turned upwards and sure enough standing above me was Amaimon. He was looking down at me through a loop of thread tangled up between his hands. "Hello, Amaimon. You are _late._"

"My fingers are stuck." I was getting a sense of déjà vu; if I wasn't mistaken that was his initial response that last time I confronted him about being late as well. I stood to my feet; his eyes followed me curiously as I did so and when I was on my feet he held out his hands and spoke, "Show me."

"Huh?"

"My older brother said it was called Cat Cradle."

"Cat_'s_ Cradle, you mean?" He did not respond except by holding his hands directly in front of my face. "Does this mean you figured out the Finger Trap?" I questioned.

He nodded and moved his hands in even closer than they already were before he demanded, "Show me," again.

"Okay. Jeez." I snatched his hands from their rather offensive position in front of my face, and untangled the knotted up piece of string. I swear I'd kill that brother of his (all in good fun of course) if I ever got a hold of him; making him late again was totally inconsiderate. Anyways, back to the game,

"All right so first of all – this is actually supposed to be a two player game but anyways," I took hold of the string and his hands, carefully I positioned them and the string so that he ended up with the Cat's Cradle, "This is the starting position for the game and its namesake: the Cat's Cradle."

The green-haired demon analyzed his hands and the string wrapped around his fingers most ardently, going so far as to hold it up to the dwindling sunlight. "Now hold you hands out in front of me again and I'll show you how you're supposed to play." Seemingly excited (though without a flinch in his stoic facial expression) he did as he was told.

I took hold of the inner pieces of string and started giving him directions all the while explaining to the teenager what the point of the game was, "It's a game of cooperation; the goal is to use the string to create different shapes like Jacob's Ladder, a Star, or a Broom just to name a few possibilities."

We had to start over more than a few times and never successfully made one of the shapes since we both kept making the occasionally mistake by dropping the string (it was almost always Amaimon's fault but unsurprisingly he usually blamed me).

It wasn't until the streetlights turned on and the darkness of the night finally embraced us that I realized I really needed to get home. I didn't have Behemoth to walk me home tonight so it wasn't really that safe for me to be wandering around alone. Purposely, I dropped the string and covered my ear to the loud exclamation of horror and annoyance that came from Amaimon's mouth every time we messed up. "You messed up!"

"I'm sorry but I _have _to go home. It's late and it's not safe at night." I explained.

"Not. Safe. Why not?"

"Dangerous things happen at night – especially to human girls."

He stared at me somewhat with dubious eyes as if he didn't quite believe what I was saying. But eventually he seemed to come to terms with my words and turned away from me (while still playing with the string I might add). "Behemoth, come." He began to leave but stopped and turned his head to look back at me from over his shoulder, "I like cherry lollipops."

I smiled, "Cherry lollipops. Okay, I can do that."

* * *

~Fin~

"_**The feeling is less like an ending than just another starting point."  
― Chuck Palahniuk, **__**Choke**_


	3. Ignorance is Bliss

I'm gonna warn you now – this has not been properly edited. Especially the last part. I glanced over it but I am really tired so I probably missed a lot. Sorry ahead of time.

I do not own any Blue Exorcist characters or plots.

"_**How often do you ignore a dream, dismiss it as fantasy and then see echoes of the dream around you the following day? What if a dream were the forewarning of what will become your reality; if you are being told within the world of a dream what may occur in the near or distant future, but your mind mangles the truth and information so much that you discard it as fiction?"**_

_**~Samantha Robertson, Floor 88**_

**Ignorance is Bliss**

I was even more lost than usual. I didn't recognize my surroundings at all, and even if I had been able to under normal circumstances I wouldn't have been able to under these. For some reason, maybe I was just really tired, everything was so dark and hazy. No matter where I looked, how hard I squinted, or how close I got nothing got any clearer. Or any closer for that matter. It was weird. It felt like no matter how much I walked I couldn't get any closer to my destination. And the more I tried to walk faster the slower I moved, like someone was adding weights to my feet for every step I took.

It must have been even worse than I had thought at work today; I don't get this tired that often. Seriously though, where am I?

The stabbing feeling of needles being stuck into my legs brought me to my knees almost instantly and I yelped in agony both due to the initial pain and the pain of colliding with the pavement. What the hell? I looked at my hands, it was difficult as the black smog started to distort even the view of my hands, and saw that they were bleeding. I then turned towards my legs. Aside from the scrapes on my knees there was nothing wrong with them. I couldn't tell where the needle sensation had come from.

With a groan, I assumed it had been due to my exhaustion and lack of proper arch support in these adorable little slippers and stood up. As I did, however, I was quickly brought back down to my knees by the same sensation again as well as the sharp pain of stepping barefoot on a sharp rock. "Crap!"

The hair on the back of my neck stood up. My voice sounded so inexplicably far away and it unnerved me. Again, I played it off as a trick of the mind and tried to unsuccessfully rub away the goose bumps. Then I looked at my legs and feet; again except for the old and new scrapes there was nothing wrong with my legs. As for my feet, however, my soles were bleeding since my shoes had mysteriously gone missing. _Where did my shoes go? Or was I ever wearing any?_ Of course, I was wearing shoes – I mean I have to wear shoes at work and I was at work. Right?

Now that I'm really trying to remember, I can't actually remember what I did today or how I got here. I certainly don't remember working. Sitting up on my knees I looked down at myself and widened my eyes in surprise and confusion.

I had, for one reason or another, left the house in nothing more than my worn out sweat shorts and tank top that I used to sleep in. In essence, I was wandering around some foreign part of town in my pajamas and without any shoes. Immediately, I rushed to cover myself. I was hardly decent and thoroughly embarrassed and horrified because of that fact.

By this point, I was beginning to become anxious and when I looked around I did so with more intent. But by now, my surrounding was surreal as the city had an eerie quality as the cityscape distorted in supernatural swirls. As if it was being drawn into hundreds of different dimensions. Furthermore, a black and gray fog further distorted my vision and chilled the air sending me into a fit of shivers. Even the street lights which normally would have been a comfort felt ghastly as they bent and flickered and illuminated ghoulish shadows all around me.

I broke into a cold sweat as my heartbeat sped up so that I could hear the echo of it pounding in my ears. My hands grew clammy and trembled uncontrollably as my eyes flitted between the moving shadows. My breathing soon sped up as I realized the shadows were creeping up on me, my little circle of light was disappearing.

I needed to run. I needed to get home. Fighting through the pain I stood, crying out in anguish as I did so, and did my best to run. But the dark was faster. Innumerable phantom black arms reached out for me and I could not escape. They grabbed my arms, wrists, my legs, ankles, my waist, hair, and my neck leaving bruises as they dragged me back. Fiercely they tore at my clothes as I fought them, screeching and scratching in terror. I fell once more to the pavement under the force of their hold and cried as I was dragged backwards because of both the pavement ripping at my bare skin and because of my breaking and bleeding nails as I clawed at the ground.

But it was useless. I could not win against the obscure monsters that held me. "NO! LET ME GO! PLEASE LET ME GO! HELP! SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME! PLEASE! OH GOD, PLEASE HELP ME!" I shrieked. I realized in horror though, that no matter how much I yelled, there was no one around to help me. I was alone. All alone.

Tears streamed down my face as the eerie cityscape disappeared behind the dark shadows and still I felt myself being dragged farther back. I felt sick as the grip of the phantom arms tightened around every part of my body. Clawed hands on my bare shoulders, stomach, chest, hips, thighs, upper arms, and neck scratched at my skin drawing blood and I screamed again.

But that pain could not be compared to the pain I felt soon after. A bursting, uncontrollable pain that spread from my chest because of an arm that had reached out from above me and imbedded itself within my breast so that it could grip my beating heart. I shrieked and sobbed because of the agony, which only grew as the hand crushed it.

I couldn't breathe and I was numb. The numerous hands receded until there were only two familiar large, rough, and clawed hands that held onto my bare, bloody, and now limp body. My dead cyan eyes stared at the form before me; its red eyes stared down at me and as though the pleasure of crushing my beating organ wasn't enough the phantom's hands moved to strangle me.

Despite wanting to pull free from the crushing embrace, I couldn't even lift a finger. Tears once again rolled down my cheeks as my vision faded away and death descended on me again.

Suddenly, I was yanked away from the grip of the phantom and my world spun before my eyes shot open and the air left my lungs due to my collision with the floor next to my bed. "Ugh."

It had been a dream I realized as I lay on the floor, entangled in my bed sheets, with my throat and eyes stinging. I was sweaty and my heart pounded almost painfully in my chest, but to be honest no matter how uncomfortable I was, I was simply happy to have my heart beating at all. I realized in the midst of my reverie that I couldn't quite catch my breath, I was hyperventilating and tears were still streaming down my face as strangled sobs escaped between my lips at every released bit of air. Furthermore, I struggled to move appropriately, if at all, as I still felt a heavy weight on my chest, like something was sitting on it.

The weight, however, disappeared almost instantly when I winced and yelped because of something I sensed reach out towards it from my side. Fortunately, upon turning to look at what it was that had reached out towards me, I found Behemoth and suddenly a sense of relief flowed into my body. I wasn't alone at all; Behemoth was here to protect me.

Looking at the goblin I saw that his eyes were narrowed and that he was positioned rather awkwardly over me, as if he felt like he had to protect me from something. Cocking my head curiously I tiredly called out to him, "Behemoth?" I was shocked by the sound of my own voice. It was scratchy, in much the same way my voice was rough after having been at a concert or sports game due to all the yelling and cheering I did. But after such an awful nightmare I suppose it made sense that I had probably been yelling in my sleep.

Which would explain why Behemoth was being so protective. I probably woke him up with all my screaming and made him think I was under attack. Perfectly understandable. He looked down at me, worry written clearly across his face. I smiled at him, trying to ease his worries and he responded by nuzzling his face against my cheek before lying down and curling up into me. He kept one of his front arms around me, as if he was hugging me, and soon I heard him snoring.

Despite the fact that I felt quite secure next to my companion and I was certainly still tired, I just couldn't bring myself to sleep. The memories of my night terror haunted me still, and I was too frightened to close my eyes.

Every time I did the memory of those hands came to mind. Hands that scratched my skin, painted me with black bruises, crushed my heart, and when that wasn't enough to please them stole the air from my lungs. Hands that felt so familiar to my skin, as if I had felt them recently or maybe often? I couldn't be sure. Nor could I be sure whose hands they were.

I mean it wasn't as if I had recently held anyone's hands right? At least no one dangerous, occasionally I would brush hands with the little children at the candy shop or shake hands with my boss, but they certainly weren't going to strangle me. And the only other person whose hand I had held recently was just Amai-

_Just_ Amaimon? Could I really say that? What did I really know about him except that he was a demon who liked candy, knew little of the world, and had threatened to kill me once before? I didn't want to doubt him and I knew I should just brush off that dream for what it was, a fantastical nightmare with little to no meaning but while still shivering from its lingering horrors I couldn't stop my mind from making wild accusations.

Behemoth shifted beside me and I was brought out of my tumultuous thoughts. In that instant, I realized with horror what it was I was doing and apologized a thousand times over to Amaimon.

But still in the back of my mind a seed of doubt had bloomed and as a result I made the decision to do a little of my own research, just so I might be able to figure out who it was I was in a make-shift relationship with.

And that had nothing to do with my dream, or so I insisted. It wasn't as if that dream was or ever would be a reality because Amaimon was a friend. He'd never do that to me. Maybe he would have when we first met but not now. Right? I know we hadn't known each other that long, having formed our deal almost two weeks ago, but I had come to look forward to the days we exchanged Behemoth. We usually ended up playing a game or I would explain a term he had heard but didn't understand. He was still stone faced but I was getting better at reading that mask and I really think highly of him and I would like to think he doesn't mind me.

Why should I let a ridiculous imaginary nightmare effect how I view him? I shouldn't and I'd bet if I did some research I'd find out that Amaimon isn't really that bad, I might not even be able to find any information on him because he's so harmless.

A hopeless hope, but a hope I held on to nonetheless.

* * *

"_**I am a contradictory mess but I see it as my prerogative to change my mood like the weather."**_

_**~Shirley Manson**_

* * *

Well then, my hopes were shattered.

Today was the day I was supposed to meet up with Amaimon in order to hand over Behemoth again, but, having an extra couple hours, I had stupidly decided to go to the public library first. Why? Well, I figured if there was any place that would have accurate information on a demon called Amaimon it would be a place with hundreds of actually published works of literature.

I was right. Upon arrival and after barely bribing Behemoth into waiting for me outside, I had gone to the front desk and asked the librarian if she knew where I could find books about demons. The lady, who was the stereotypical librarian with the old round glasses, harsh and administrative eyes, and tightly pulled back grey bun, studied me suspiciously. Her gaze specifically fell on my oddly colored hair to which she raised an inquisitive eyebrow before shaking away the criticism she clearly felt for my stylistic choices. Not that I thought it was any of her concern what color I thought to dye my hair.

The elderly woman sniffed and pushed the brim of her glasses back into place on her nose. When she finally spoke her voice carried a 'holier than thou' quality that reminded me why I never much cared for public libraries – or at least not this one. "Was there a specific book you were looking for miss?"

"Well no, not a specific one. I just wanted to do a little research on demons is all." The lady hummed in a manner that told me she didn't find it at all surprising that I'd be looking for a book on demons and that did more than just irk me. I mean really what a pompous woman.

Nonetheless, she did do her job. After hearing my answer, her skeletal finger clicked on the computer keyboard in front of her and, a moment or two later, she pointed me in the direction I was to go. She did so silently, which made her look an awful lot like the ghost of Christmas yet to come, but I digress.

After being pointed in the proper direction, I went on my way and after a little wandering and, unsurprisingly, getting turned around a few times I found the section labeled _Mythology_ where _Demonology _was kept as a subsection. I began my search by pulling out any and every book I could with the word demon in the title (quite literally judging each and everyone by its cover) and carrying them over to the nearest empty table. Dropping them on the surface, I was immediately reprimanded for the loud bang I had produced by a choir of shushes that echoed around me to which I responded with a whispered apology.

I didn't put much thought into which book I would start with as I snatched up the one nearest to me and opened to the Table of Contents. I found that I chose wisely, however, as I found Amaimon's name almost immediately. This made me gleeful due to the simplicity of the task and worried that he had an entire chapter all to himself. Turning to the appropriate page numbers, I started reading.

Once finished, I moved on to the next book and repeated the action.

Then the next.

And then another.

At this point I wasn't even really reading – more like glossing over the words.

His name was included in almost every text I had picked up, which meant there was more than enough information here to keep me busy studying Amaimon for days, maybe even weeks considering that, though I _was_ intelligent, I was not a very fast reader. And I would be lying if I said I wasn't shocked or frightened by what I had discovered.

Amaimon was more than _just_ _any_ demon. He had been around for thousands of years, which meant that despite his occasionally childish mannerisms he wasn't really a teenager, and had been the cause of plenty of full-scale calamities. He was a prince of Gehenna, the Demon King of earth, and, while perhaps not the strongest, he was still one of the most powerful, dangerous, and destructive demons in existence.

And _I _was in _way_ over my head.

I let my arms fall by my sides as I leaned back in my chair and stared at the ceiling. Looking back down at the open books on the desk I bit my bottom lip and ran a hand through my bright cyan hair.

What was I thinking? This was a stupid idea. The Amaimon _I_ knew wasn't like this, and even if he was, I knew what he was from the moment I met him so why was I letting it bother me now? Knowing how famous and strong he is shouldn't change my opinion of him. And yet uneasy butterflies filled my stomach when I thought that I'd be meeting him later that day.

I reached out and closed the books on demonology that I had gathered from throughout the library. Closing my eyes and sighing deeply, I did my best to calm my nerves and remind myself of one simple fact. The Amaimon known by these writers is not the same Amaimon I knew. Yes, he could be destructive and angry and threatening, but his destruction had never been truly intentional or with the purpose of hurting someone, at least not since _I_'d known him. His anger had been childish but from my limited experience never actually resulted in a successful violent action. And his threats had never become anything more than threats.

Perhaps, this was because I bribed him with candy or because his familiar liked me, and maybe I was being naïve in thinking this, but I really don't think he'd hurt me.

Or at least that was what I kept telling myself.

But the fact was there was always the chance he _could_ kill me and it would be foolish of me to trust a demon I only met two weeks ago with, for all intents and purposes, my life.

I was conflicted and angry that life was so unforgiving. And, after cleaning up my workspace and stepping outside, I found that the weather today echoed my inner turmoil. It was very stormy. Rain fell in sheets and the wind kicked up sporadically blowing debris all over the streets and sidewalks. "_Peachy_." I declared with uninhibited disdain, "Isn't this just peachy." To be honest, I wasn't really sure if I was actually referring to the weather when I said that. But it'd be perfectly understandable if I were.

After all, I'd have to walk to the park in this, and no doubt, as per usual, Amaimon would make me wait two hours for his arrival. Now fortunately, I had actually checked the weather station this morning, which was something I wasn't normally prone to doing but, due to my inability to sleep, had done as a way to pass the time, and had in fact brought an umbrella.

Somehow, knowing I had outsmarted nature made me very giddy on the inside – a nice change from my recently despairing mood – and a celebratory grin grew on my face.

Swinging the umbrella in my hand, I displayed my victory before all the unfortunate people who had not checked the weather this morning. And then I opened it and stepped outside. Almost immediately, Behemoth, who had been waiting for me beneath the library overhang, joined me.

There was something somewhat soothing about the pitter-patter of the strong rain, like it was washing away all my worries. Furthermore, Behemoth apparently didn't like the rain all that much because he absolutely refused to leave my side and that meant I didn't need to chase him around town. It was a very relaxing moment and I found my mood brightening enough to add a spring to my step.

I suppose I was something like a flower. I needed both rain and shine to thrive, and today was that rainy day I needed to make my mood blossom again after too much sun.

But even flowers need to be careful not to get doused in too much water or else they'll drown as I quickly discovered when a taxi drove by. As he went by his wheels dipped into a puddle of water, which resulted in the liquid lifting off the ground and landing on me. I squealed and blubbered – now a soaked messed, I felt my mood worsening again.

I glared at the taxi and its driver as it sped off and, just to be sure the driver understood my aggravation, I flipped him off too while yelling, "JERK!"

Almost as if he too felt my annoyance, I saw a very wet Behemoth bound off after the taxi, growling and roaring. He reminded me quite a bit of a dog chasing a mail truck, but I had no time to be amused by the image as I realized if I didn't run after him I'd lose him in the storm. "Behemoth! Wait! He isn't worth it! COME BACK!" Not to mention he can't actually see you either! Of course, I failed to mention that.

With a grunt I started running after Behemoth, a task made far more difficult with an open umbrella, but after adjusting it so that it was facing forward it became a little easier and actually did quite a bit to shield me from the water.

On another note, so much for my relaxing walk in the rain.

* * *

"_**A friend is one to whom one may pour out the contents of one's heart, chaff and grain together, knowing that gentle hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away."**_

_**~George Eliot**_

* * *

I was relapsing. I had been doing so well these past two weeks, never once late for a meeting with Amaimon. Perhaps it was because I was always so looking forward to seeing him and that drew my feet to the park like metal to a magnet. Or maybe it was the fear that if I was late with Behemoth, Amaimon would get mad, or the fear that if I was late to pick up Behemoth he'd leave with the goblin.

In the beginning, I'm sure it was the latter, but during this last week it was probably the former.

Now I was late and it was due to a combination of Behemoth running after a taxi and the weather. And perhaps, just a little, the small seed of doubt that had been planted in my head this morning and that grew just a tad bit larger at the library was slowing down my journey as well. But I refused to really truly consider that. I refused to open up that door. Because I was scared that if I did it would close and lock behind me and then I'd never be able to go back to the carefree times I had before I knew what I knew.

Knowledge is a burden, not suited to the weak. And I was weak. Though I tried to be strong by forgetting or, if I could not forget, ignoring. Why did I do this? Because _I_ didn't know what to do.

But I did know what _They_ say.

_They _say ignorance is bliss. And the institute called _They _is strong. And the strong can know and can know what they know and can know how to use what they know, so _They_ must really know. And in times when I don't know I should listen to those that do, right?

Oh who knows? What I most certainly know is I have a major headache, I was soaked to the bone, I was sneezing, and I was cursing this useless umbrella for not keeping me dry. All the while, Behemoth was dragging me around since I refused to release his leash and wasn't strong enough to hold the hobgoblin back. To make things worse, I had no idea where he was taking me, but I had a sinking suspicion he was still trying to chase down the taxi from earlier, although wishful thinking had me hoping he was headed towards the park.

Unfortunately one look around told me that, unless he was taking the scenic route, I was not anywhere near my destination and certainly not headed there. Actually, I was even more lost than usual. I didn't recognize my surroundings at all, and even if I had been able to under normal circumstances I wouldn't have been able to under these.

The rain was still falling though not as heavily as before. But as a result of the rainfall a thin mist hung in the air, which in combination with the darkness of an evening blanketed in dark storm clouds and the actual rain made it really hard for me to see clearly.

What I could tell you was that I was in a rough part of town. Most of the buildings that I could see despite the weather conditions had clearly not been taken care of for a long time. Some of them even had red and yellow haphazard signs and tape on the front doors warning me against stepping in them. Not that I would feel inclined to do so even if they hadn't had the warnings. Furthermore, the streets and sidewalks were in just as poor a condition, if not poorer. The pavement had small and large cracks patterned just like a puzzle; from these cracks weeds and grass grew and attempted to blanket the rest of the undamaged surface. To make matters worse, more than once my foot caught on the uneven pavement both because I wasn't graceful to begin with and because the lack of visibility.

All that being said, at least I wasn't here alone and I hadn't actually fallen yet. Behemoth was still here at my side and I was quite certain that if someone or _something_ were to try to harm me he would step in and protect me. And the fact that I hadn't fallen meant I was in tip top shape should it be necessary for me to start running. Plus, it's always embarrassing to trip and fall on your face so it was a relief to not actually have done it.

Yet.

I spoke too soon it seems; no sooner had the thought cross my mind that my foot once again caught on the edge of yet another crack and I found myself tilting forward. This wasn't the first time this had happened, but the unlucky sequence of events that followed did not allow for me to catch myself as I had done in the past.

Just as my toes caught on the crack and the tilting began, someone or _something_, more than likely a cat or small dog (since those always seems to be the things that garner the most attention from the goblin) ran out from an alley. Behemoth having little to no self-control just couldn't resist the temptation to leap forward after the creature. Unfortunately, as I was still holding the leash, his spring forward quickened my fall and I, having no time to do much more than release the leash, let go of the umbrella, throw my hands forward, and squeak, ended up hitting the pavement rather harshly.

There were a few seconds during which I simply laid there and wondered what had just occurred, but soon the stinging in my palms and knees told me I had in fact tripped and had more than likely skinned them. "Owie." I mumbled when I had finally gathered my thoughts and started sitting up. Now seated on my knees I looked around for my rambunctious hobgoblin companion (not to mention my now _broken_ umbrella) only to be mortified upon realizing he had disappeared. This of course meant one thing: I was alone. All alone.

As I took in my surroundings again, which were still rather distorted by the mist, I began to feel a little anxiety growing within me. There was something about this entire scene that seemed all too familiar. Like something I'd seen in a dream. An all too recent dream, the horror of which I was still recovering from.

The parallels were there, alone in a hardly visible and unknown part of the city. Darkness all around, the only illumination coming from trembling street lamps that merely made trifling sections of the sidewalk glow ominously. The nightmare from the night before began playing through my mind and I felt the once small worry grow into an overwhelming panic.

Still, I knew better than to start running blindly around in an area I was not familiar with when there didn't seem to be any eminent danger. No, the best option would be to try and retrace my steps out of here and back into a populated part of the city.

If only I could be sure of the direction from which I came.

I still tried though. As soon as I was back on my feet I turned directly around and started straight ahead (leaving the broken umbrella behind). I figured eventually I'd either reach a dead end or a different part of the city, and I figured that if I turned directly around I would perhaps make it somewhere close to where I had originally started. Whether or not this was the case would soon be revealed.

As I travelled I did my best to remain within the spaces lit by the streetlights. After all, no matter how gloomy the light they cast, some light was always better than no light. At least I'd be able to see it when I was being approached. Well, see it better would be more accurate.

* * *

I wasn't sure how much time had past but I was most certainly starting to feel run down and sluggish. My feet were heavy, the combination of the wet shoes, wet socks, running, walking, and tripping that I experienced today had left more than one blisters on my feet caused them to sting with every step I took. Furthermore, the dull ache in my hands and knees made every step more tiresome than the last. And I was cold. It may have been summer but being wet and outside at night while it was still raining and slightly windy could make anyone chilly even during a summer's dusk.

I was still lost and it seemed as though I wasn't getting anywhere fast. No matter how I had tried to keep going straight I would always end up being forced to turn down a different path either because it was a dead end or because the lamps ceased to light my way and I did not have the courage to brave a pitch-black street. The end result was that I had been walking in circles. Worse yet, I was still alone. Behemoth had never returned which meant one of three things: he was lost, he was still chasing that cat (or dog), or he had been detained in some fashion. None of which benefitted me or left me any less worried for his wellbeing (or mine).

Once again I found myself attempting to make out my surroundings through the mist, rain, and dark. It was difficult but after a moment I was able to observe a moving form and immediately I felt my heart jump into my throat and my stomach flip-flop as I stilled. I shivered, but I wasn't sure if it was because of the cold or because of the foretelling feeling of peril that ceased my beating organ as I watched the figure grow closer.

Even though I could not yet make out its details I was still quite certain it wasn't human. It could only have been as tall as my hips and seemed to walk on four legs as opposed to two. Furthermore, I could hear _panting_ or something akin to it and it sounded animalistic and sickly.

The fear grew slowly within me and I found myself taking steps away from the approaching creature when suddenly I was interrupted by a distressing thought. This creature could very well be an injured Behemoth. That is after all precisely how I found him the first time and if that were the case I should not be running from him but to him. Seized with the need to help my companion my feet moved quickly towards the beast and I called out to him in a concerned laced voice, "Behemoth!"

As I approached him though another insight made itself perfectly apparent. The closer I got the more I could distinguish multiple other forms just behind him. Multiple similar forms, also panting. But my approach did not cease until the details of the creature were clear to me and there was no denying that the creature was not Behemoth but something else entirely. Something that I knew immediately, both from the smell and appearance, could not be alive.

It was a corpse. The corpse of a dog. And it was the saddest and most terrifying thing I had ever laid eyes on. One eye was glazed over and seemed to have had parts of it eaten from while the other was missing all together. The skin of its lips were falling away from its jaws revealing an incomplete but still frightening set of teeth. On one side of its face the tissue had been slightly torn away to reveal bone and bits of muscle. He was missing patches of fur and in these places I could see bones, intestines, worms, and maggots eating away at it.

The more I looked the more I felt the bile rising in my throat and I had to resist the urge to throw up. Something made even more difficult by the pungent odor that hung in the air around it. I once again glanced beyond the _thing _to the moving shapes that were slowly becoming more visible behind it became apparent that the two figures were creatures of the same variety the fear seized me and a scream rose out of my lungs despite my attempt at keeping it down.

My hands flew to cover my own mouth, trying to take back my shriek in a vain hope that if I could, perhaps these creatures would somehow not notice my presence. But they did. They probably were always aware I was there, even before I screamed, before I came to them, or called out to them thinking it was Behemoth; they may have even been aware of my presence from before the time Behemoth had left my side.

The paranoid thought that perhaps maybe these creatures had been the ones Behemoth had run off chasing imbedded itself into my head and I couldn't shake it away. If it was true that would mean this entire time I had been being hunted. This entire time I was their prey and I watched animal planet enough to know what happens to the prey that has been separated from its companions. It was slaughtered.

My legs suddenly felt very weak, like jelly, but fortunately this lasted only for a moment as a large dose of adrenaline was leaked into my veins and the instinct to flee kicked into overdrive.

In a state of blind fear, I turned on my heels and made to run. My foot momentarily got caught on the uneven ground and I stumbled but the adrenaline had me back on my feet and racing away in less than a second's time. Instinctually I could sense the predators give chase after me and I pushed my legs to move faster. I didn't know if I could outrun the dead creatures but I certainly was going to try. I'll admit there was an added incentive to run faster when I heard the vicious growling and snapping sounds from behind me followed by the sound of paws treading against the pavement after me.

My heart was racing, pounding painfully in my chest as it rushed to keep up with the rate my chest heaved with pants. I could already feel a bead of sweat run down my neck and back.

I don't know how far I got, but it certainly didn't seem very far, before I felt something take hold of my left rain boot. As a result I fell to the ground again; my already skinned palms and knees screamed in pain and I shrieked in terror. My shrieking only grew louder when I realized that my boot had been caught in the jaws of one of the ghouls. "NO! LET GO!"

Every cell in my body burned with the desire to flee and reflexively I started kicking at the creature in a desperate attempt to get free. The undead dog pulled desperately at my boot and between the actions of both me and him I managed to slip out of the shoe and begin running away again. I was fortunate enough to do so just before the other two could descend upon me as well. The shoe gave me a few minutes head start as the three monsters ripped the boot to pieces in the manner I was certain they wanted to do to me as well.

My hands and knees were bleeding and my eyes had started filling up with frightened tears. At this point, I was convinced that I was not going to survive. That these beasts were going to capture me and eat me alive. But still I wouldn't give up. I couldn't give up.

I needed to run. I needed to get home. I wanted to get home. I wanted to see my family again. I wanted to see Behemoth again. I wanted to see my friends again. I wanted to see Amaimon again.

The ghouls had finished shredding my boot and had come after me once again but I didn't look back. I knew that if I looked back they'd catch me all the faster. Although, they still caught up to me rather quickly. I must have been lucky though because though the one in the lead did snap his jaws at me he missed my body, he did however sink his fangs into the little backpack I was wearing and pulled on that.

Between his pulling and my pulling, the straps on my bag snapped and I once again fell forward. Unfortunately this time they spent no time ripping the bag apart and set their empty eyes on me. They did not give me the opportunity to get back to my feet and when they came at me I pathetically curled up, covered my head, closed my eyes (causing the tears that had been building up finally travel down my cheeks), and screamed. "SOMEONE HELP ME!"

There was a very familiar sound, a sound I felt like I had heard once before when my life had been threatened. It was a kind of growl followed by a smack, a yelp, a collision, and the voice of teenaged green-haired demon. Of course, last time he had said something a little different and perhaps a little more preferable, yet I couldn't bring myself to care.

"You were late." I looked up at the demon boy, and nearly sobbed in relief.

"Amaimon!" All right, so I might have sobbed just a little. But never in my life had I ever been so happy or relieved to see anyone one person, or any one hobgoblin I noted when I caught sight of Behemoth to his left. He was standing between the remaining two ghouls and I; the third had been kicked (as I deduced from Amaimon's still slightly raised right foot) into the nearest building's wall, which had collapsed under the power of the impact. As per usual, he was sucking on a lollypop and his face was mostly deadpan, but his eyebrows were furrowed just enough to be noticeable. Yet, despite this sign of aggravation I couldn't help but smile or be happy to see him, and, in that moment of relief, I felt the remaining tears exit down my cheeks. I was so overjoyed by his presence here I almost missed the corners of his mouth turn downward into a grimace right before he turned back to face the remaining animated corpses.

My moment of elation was interrupted by the sound of growling. I wasn't entirely sure if the growling was coming from Behemoth or the dead dogs (I admittedly didn't even consider Amaimon, although I guess he could have been doing it as well), but either way it was intimidating and I flinched and crawled a little closer to the Green-haired demon and his familiar. I am not scared to admit that I was scared and wanted to rely on them a little.

I jumped a little when Amaimon spoke again, his voice wasn't different – it wasn't like he had suddenly became a different person or I hadn't heard him speak with annoyance before – but he _did_ sound _very_ irritated, "Behemoth, _**go**_."

That was the only command the familiar needed before he charged forward in a ferocious manner. I would be lying if I said I wasn't shocked by the violence I saw follow. That is not to say that I was not aware that Behemoth might have been capable of it but, rather, it was more a shock that I was actually witnessing it.

It took the goblin a mere moment to sink his teeth into the throat of one of the ghouls and another to rip his claws into its body, effectively ripping it to shreds. The other, perhaps incapable of recognizing that it was out of its league, attempted to dig its own fangs into the arm of Behemoth, but the familiar was faster than the ghoul and…

Well, I'll be honest I don't really know what happened after that. I couldn't bear to watch anymore of the gruesome scene and had turned away, closed my eyes, and covered my ears.

I only opened my eyes again when I felt someone poking me in the forehead. Upon doing so I found that both Amaimon and Behemoth were staring into my face. Behemoth had an apologetic look on his face and Amaimon was…well…his face was about as telling as it usually is and his finger was hovering in front of my forehead as if he was about to poke it again.

Looking at them both I opened my mouth and asked, "Are they gone?"

"Yep."

My lips quivered a little as the wave of relief washed over me and tears rose to the surface yet again, I swear I never realized I was such a crybaby. Nonetheless, I did manage to murmur a "thank you." Before the tears could get too overwhelming I worked to wipe them away, occasionally I would glance at the two demons watching me. Behemoth looked restless and Amaimon, though still expressionless, had started to fidget a little.

They were getting impatient it seemed.

I looked down at my hands for a moment, they were pretty badly scuffed but I would live. I then tried to turn to look at my shoeless foot but an unexpected sight stopped me. There was an unwrapped cherry lollipop being held in front of my face and the person holding it out to me was none other than the candy obsessed Amaimon.

I stared at him for a moment. He stared back at me. I realized he was giving it to me and opened my mouth to thank and accept it, but before I could get a word in he took the opportunity to shove it in my mouth. I squeaked in surprise and slight irritation – that wasn't very polite after all and he needed to be reprimanded (or so I had decided).

Of course, he spoke before I did. "You were late." He had said that once already I noted, I also noted that considering his track record he really wasn't one to talk. Still, I was late.

Taking the lollipop out of my mouth I responded, "I know…I'm really sorry…but thank you for saving me anyways."

He shrugged, "I don't like it when things break my stuff."

…

Did he just refer to me as an object? Because I think I'm somehow falling into this category of 'stuff'. I'm sorry, '_his_ stuff'. "Your _stuff_?" I asked.

"Yep. Oh!" Suddenly excited and apparently having completely moved on he turned to me and pulled something out of his pocket, it was a pouch full of Jacks. "Show me how to play this."

I stared at him for a moment before I responded, "Right now?"

At my question, he cocked his head in a manner that told me I had somehow confused him then he spoke as if the following was the most obvious thing in the world, "No, you were late," he frowned for a moment but then continued, "and dangerous things happen at night – especially to weak human girls." My eyes widened for a moment. I recognized that line. I had told him that the night I taught him how to play Cat's Cradle. Although, I don't remember making any mention of the 'weak' part of that sentence (even if it was true by his standards).

I smiled a little, "That's true. Later then?" He smiled brightly and nodded enthusiastically.

Now, onto a more pressing concern: I needed to get home. Still seated on the pavement (and after replacing my lollipop in my mouth) I reached over and gathered up my damaged purse, fortunately, nothing had fallen out at least. Once it was in my arms, I went to stand up, but before I could do so I found myself floating in the air. I squeaked (nearly spitting out my lollipop in the process) and then turned scarlet.

Why?

Well, because Amaimon had taken it upon himself to pick me up like a sack of potatoes. "W-What are you doing!?"

"Slow."

"What?"

"You're very slow."

"So?"

"It's annoying." If my hands weren't hurting I would have face palmed. And yet, somehow I found the entire situation somewhat endearing because in his own weirdly screwed up way, he was trying to be nice. Or at least that's how I saw it. He could have simply left, and yet he didn't. It was like he somehow knew I didn't want to have to walk home alone (while still lost) so he was nice enough to stay with me. Who'd of thought nice would ever be a word I'd use to describe a demon?

Especially one with a history like his. I internally sighed; I should never have doubted him. There are a lot of people (or demons as the case may be) with histories, but I can't judge Amaimon for the things he did before I knew him. Not when the things he was doing now were so clearly _**not **_bad or geared towards harming me. We've had a lot of fun together and he had saved my life and because of that I couldn't believe he was an evil person, or really even a mean person. Awkward. Definitely. Mean…not really. Kind…unintentionally, but weirdly and surprisingly kind nonetheless. Well, I guess it shouldn't surprise me all that much – after all, I don't make it a habit of befriending mean people.

"Amaimon, you're a good friend."

"Friend?" He sounded so genuinely confused I wasn't sure whether to giggle or cry in pity for him.

"Yeah, a person someone can count on, have fun with, trust. Someone you care about." He was quiet for a moment, as if he was considering and trying to grasp what I was saying. It was strange to me that he wouldn't have a clear understanding of this term, but I guess friendship isn't really something that demons often thought of.

"Friend?" He still didn't seem clear on the idea, but that didn't surprise me all that much. Friendship is a hard idea to grasp whether you're human or demon. We, or rather he walked while I was carried (and Behemoth followed), in silence for a few moments until he suddenly made a loud exclamation that caused me to jump out of my skin, "AH! That was the last one!"

"The last what?"

"Cherry lollipop."

I chuckled, "Cherry lollipops. Okay, I can do that."

* * *

_~Fin~_

"_**Ends are not bad things, they just mean that something else is about to begin. And there are many things that don't really end, anyway, they just begin again in a new way. Ends are not bad and many ends aren't really an ending; some things are never-ending."**_

_**~C. JoyBell C.**_

* * *

All right guys, I don't normally do this in my chapters but I figured I would do it this time (since I'm kind of all over the map when it comes to whether or not this story is finished), so here is a rundown of my 'plan' for this fanfiction in case you were…you know…wondering (this is taken [almost] directly from my profile page as well just so you are aware – I will also say I am more likely to post updates on how things are progressing there than I am anywhere else, anyways):

There is no set release date for any chapters; I don't have the means by which to guarantee a set release schedule. Time is not my friend. It is terrified of me and has made itself scarce so don't be expecting a weekly or really even a monthly release. (That being said, I find when I get reviews I tend to want to make more time to write a chapter)

I don't really have a set path for the story yet as it wasn't supposed to be anything more than a one-shot, that being said I do have a very general map and a pretty set in stone ending...(heh) Nonetheless if you have anything you'd like to suggest or maybe feel needs to happen please go ahead and contact me – I could use the inspiration (and I'm not afraid to admit that). Plus, it's not like I bite...well…at least not hard *chuckle*.

As of now it is marked as complete and will stay that way because every chapter I post will by no means require another one to continue the story, but don't worry, I will let you know when we reach the official ending to avoid confusion.

Lastly, Sorry if Amaimon seems OOC at times. I'm trying my best but it's always hard. Anywho, that's all folks. Thanks for reading and please give me your feedback either in a review or pm and I'll 'see' you all next time.


	4. Grounded for Life

As per usual, the editing is not the best so I apologize for any glaring errors.

I do not own Blue Exorcist characters or plots just my characters and my plots.

_**"To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work."**_

_**Mary Oliver**_

**Grounded for Life**

"Kotori! I need your help with this display case!"

_Three, four, five, six, and that's seven there._ I pointed vaguely at all the nearly full assorted chocolate candy dispensers.

"Kotori!"

_So that means that there's only two here I need to refill. _Looking at the label I made a mental note, c_hocolate covered malt balls,_ I looked at the container with an appraising eye,_ about a scoop and a half should do._

"Earth to Kotori!"

I moved to the next one and appraised it as well, _and this one looks like three scoops of the…cocoa dusted toffee chocolate almonds - yuck._

"Oh for the love of – Kotori Ueda!"

I turned slightly towards the central dispensers in the candy shop and pointed vaguely at them. _Then I'll go ahead and refill the hard candy and lollipop disp-_**SMACK! **"OW! What'd you do that for, Chou!"

"I've called you like four times now!" My co-worker, Chou Hamasaki, frowned at me before continuing, "I need your help with the window display, the display case is too heavy and I can't move it by myself."

"Oh," I shrugged and smiled apologetically, "why didn't you just say so?"

She scoffed, "I did!" Chou was a very pretty (beautiful would be just as accurate a description) girl. Like me she was a sixteen-year-old high school student (who also happened to attend the same high school as me) but, unlike me, looked very mature for her age. Also, her hair wasn't bright blue and nor was it shoulder-length and wavy like mine, it was a glistening black, perfectly straight (not a single frizz in sight) and cut into a very classy bob. She also had very elegant facial features and furthermore, she was tall and thin but not without the curves that men found appealing, much like a model. She was the epitome of an Asian beauty and we often had trouble with young men wandering in to the shop to hit on her.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little envious of her. I mean don't get me wrong, I was…cute; I was thin (like a stick and with only the faintest of curves) and my face was dainty with big round blue eyes (which isn't really a bad thing), but I was short (and definitely not a model) and, let's face it, blue hair tends to be a little off putting (of course, I really don't mind, I like my hair blue).

All that being said, Chou's exterior was a little deceptive. Because hiding behind that beautiful and angelic face was often a holier-than-thou, I'm better than the world, devious sadist. Now I didn't dislike Chou, she wasn't all terrible – at least not to me – and we had actually been good friends since we started high school a year ago, but I've seen her do and say some pretty mean things to some of the boys who've tried hitting on her as well as some of the kids that annoyed her.

Chou did not like kids. Which always left me wondering why in the world she was working in a candy shop, but then again it wasn't really any of my business.

Anyway, we walked together to the large display case sitting in front of the window. Without needing to say a word, we each stood at one end and leaned down to grip the bottom edge and lift. Unfortunately, I was not as helpful as I would have liked to have been. This was entirely due to the state of my palms. Regrettably, though they were properly bandaged, my hands were still in a poor state after the fiasco I endured the night before, and at the moment when I went to lift the case, the pressure caused a shooting pain to travel from my hands and up my arms. In the end, I instinctually yelped and pulled away and dropped the heavy thing with a thump.

"EEEK! KOTORI!" Almost immediately I heard Chou's side of the case fall to the ground with a bang as well and upon looking at her I saw she was holding her hands close to her chest as one would do after pulling away to quickly avoid smashing his or her fingers. "Jeez! You nearly crushed my hands!"

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to! Are you alright?" Frantic and flustered, I was quick to apologize and rush to her side to check on the state of her hands.

She sighed, "I'm fine, but," her eyes narrowed on me, "what's wrong with your hands?"

I did try to pull them away from her and out of sight, attempting to explain last night's incident was very difficult no matter how I tried to spin it and I didn't want to lie, or rather I was a really bad liar. Just ask my parents. If nothing is said I'm fine, but the moment you bring attention to a matter I can't lie; I can't even hide the smallest detail while trying to tell a partial truth. I'm an open book if there ever was one.

Nonetheless, she snatched them before I could hide them from her. "Don't try to hide them from me; tell me what happened."

"I fell down last night."

"What? Did you land in glass?"

"No. I just fell…a lot." Chou frowned at me, clearly aware that I was not telling her the whole story. However, in the end she smiled kindly and nodded.

"Well, _if_ that's all…" I probably should have seen this coming, especially considering who she was, but alas I did not. Instead of releasing my hands she held them far tighter within her own, making sure to rub against my palms where I had securely bandaged them. I yelped in response and eventually managed a glare at her while attempting to pull my appendages from her. When she did release me she finished her statement, "Let that be incentive to pay more attention when you're walking." Then she smiled. Again. But more sweetly than before. It was sickeningly sweet and only made me want to bash her teeth in.

With no small degree of sarcasm I retorted, "Yeah…thanks."

"No problem." One day I'd wipe that smug smile off her face, but let's face it, today was not going to be that day.

To be honest, sometimes I wondered _why_ we were friends. But deep down inside I knew that she was a good person…probably. "Anyway, lets try this again. This time I won't drop it…I _promise_." She looked at me suspiciously; clearly not liking the way the final word had rolled off my tongue. But nonetheless we did take our positions.

With a heave ho and no small amount of stinging in my hands we managed to move the display into its new position. Afterwards, I pulled my hands away and flexed them in an attempt to stretch the throbbing away. I was largely successful. Out of my peripheral vision I noticed Chou turn to face me. "So…do your parents at least know what happened?"

I turned to face her and shook my head; "they've been out of town for a while now."

She snapped her fingers as if she just remembered something, "That's right your mom's a pilot and your dad's a steward right?"

"Err…reverse that and you'd be right."

"So when do they get back then?"

"Ton – _**gasp – **_" I froze in horror when the realization hit that my mom and dad were coming home far sooner than I realized. "**Oh. My. Gosh!** They're coming home _tonight_!" I had completely lost track of the time. My parents were coming home tonight and I still hadn't fixed the kitchen island or replaced their favorite vase (assuming I actually would have been able to do either of those of course). I turned to face Chou, my puppy dog eyes set on her causing her to flinch away from me and narrow her eyes.

"What? What do you want?" she asked.

Without any hesitation and with my voice full of hope I answered, "I need a favor."

"What is it?"

"You get off at the same time as me right?"

She frowned, "Oh no, I see where this is going. I am _not_ walking you home just because _your_ sense of direction _sucks_."

Oh, we'll see about that.

* * *

Its moments like these that I am reminded why Chou is my friend, because you see deep, deep, oh so very deep down inside she is a big softy and a huge pushover. Especially when I gave her the puppy dog eyes she hates so very much. She simply couldn't resist.

At this very moment in time, Chou was dragging me through the streets towards my house on the fastest route she knew of. "Come on, Kotori! You're the one that's making me do this – the least you can do is actually keep up!" She certainly sounded cross and that did motivate me to at least try and keep up with her pace. Don't misunderstand, however, it wasn't that I wasn't in just as much of a hurry as she was; rather it was that her legs were much longer than mine and she was in far better shape.

Actually, as I was now I couldn't really even manage a proper response because I couldn't catch my breath enough to do so. You would think since I do a lot of a walking every time I step outside of my apartment I would be in much better shape – and yes that may or may not be due to my supposedly _bad_ sense of direction (although I still maintain that my sense of direction really isn't that bad). Yet, I was not. Of course, I didn't really walk this quickly when I was lost. No, at those times it was _usually_ like a relaxing stroll (last night clearly being the exception), and unfortunately, right now it was more like a marathon. So I suppose it was understandable that this would be a little more difficult. Okay, a _lot_ more difficult.

It was only a few more moments before I saw my apartment building and broke out into a dead sprint leaving my companion behind. "THANK YOU CHOU! I'll see you later!" I yelled back at her, my hand briefly waving a good bye.

"This is seriously the **LAST** TIME, Kotori! Learn the way to work already!" She hollered after me before turning on her heels to head towards her next destination.

I didn't bother waiting for the elevator – initially – but by the time I got to the third floor I was too tired to keep climbing the stairs and ended up taking the elevator the rest of the way to the seventh floor. Fortunately for my impatience, our elevators did not have any speakers installed so I wasn't forced to listen to the annoying elevator music that always seems to be playing in movies. Actually, I'm not sure I've ever heard that music anywhere but the movies or on the phone when I've been placed on hold. But I digress.

Having finally made it to my apartment in record time I tossed my bag into my room as I passed it and made a beeline for my biggest problem – the kitchen counter. I stared at it for a moment, critiquing the damage. There was no way I was going to be able to fix it on my own and certainly not before my parents came home, which was no doubt in a few hours (if I was lucky).

That being said, I could at least try my best to make it look a little _less_ broken. Not sure how I going to do that but I could at least try. Perhaps along the way I could come up with a more believable story as to how it happened in the first place because, let's face it; the truth was _very_ hard to believe.

Getting down on my knees in front of the counter I grabbed the frame of the countertop and gently pushed some the loose pieces back into place. I was happy to see that the lines caused by the cracks didn't look quite as noticeable when I did that, so I kept doing it until I was satisfied. Furthermore, somehow, the countertop had escaped damage – lucky – so the only other thing I had to work on was the surface it sat on – the wood paneled wall.

It was completely _impossible _to make that look any better. It was splintered all over and completely caved in. With a sigh I worked on removing the broken pieces and throwing them in a black trash bag. It was slow going and certainly not fun and the entire while I worried about what I was going to say to my parents.

I spun one absurd theory after next but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't come up with one even the least bit believable. At this point, I might as well be honest – none of the other stories I could come up with was going to help me avoid punishment anyway. I sighed in despair as I threw the last splinter away and tied the bag close. Standing back up I froze in shock as I considered the sight before my eyes.

_What the?_

_When did they get in here?_

_What are they doing in here anyway?_

_Moreover, do they __**ever **__knock? _

I answered my own question, _Of course not. He never uses the front door, why would he knock. _I noted that even when he carried me home and I told him not to, he still climbed in through the window – which was totally terrifying by the way (Furthermore, I'm still not clear on what the deal was with his aversion to doors). And somehow he seems to be in the habit of entering other people's homes without permission, which was another detail I noted from the first night he'd come into my house.

Oh right! While I'm sure that at this point it is perfectly clear, I should probably describe the 'sight before my eyes' anyways. Well, sitting on top of the counter I was working under sat none other than the green-haired demon king Amaimon. He was sitting cross-legged and sucking on a lollipop while he watched me work. Next to him was Behemoth, who was seated calmly while being stroked on the head.

A few more silent and, in my case, frozen in shock moments went by before Amaimon rose his hand, waved, and broke the silence, "Hey."

I blinked a few times as I cleared my mind and recalled how to form words, "Uh…hi." I looked around once or twice and rested my gaze on him again, "Um…did you need something?"

"Not really."

I nervously glanced at the door, "Then you're here because…?"

He shrugged, "I was bored." He certainly looked bored, but then again he always looked bored.

I sighed and picked up the trash bag full of debris, "Look Amaimon…" I started walking out of the kitchen towards the front door, "I'm kind of in…a situation of sorts and can't really play with you right now. I'm really so-." I stopped short when I turned around and he was nowhere to be found. "…Amaimon?"

"What's in the bag?" I jumped out of my skin when he spoke again due to the proximity of his voice. In less than a second and without my noticing he had relocated to my side and was eyeing the bag I was carrying.

"It's - " I was cut-off by the most horrific sound I had heard in weeks. It was the sound of the lock on my front door rattling. Someone was unlocking the door and judging from the muffled chattering on the other side it could only be two people: _my parents._

* * *

"_**It's astonishing how much trouble one can get oneself into, if one works at it. And astonishing how much trouble one can get oneself out of, if one assumes that everything will, somehow or other, work out for the best."**_

_**~Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol. 10: The Wake**_

* * *

"Who's that?" I turned to face Amaimon, and without really thinking it through – _at all_ – I came to the decision that it was imperative that I hide him and Behemoth.

Snatching him by the collar I started dragging him to my room, "**You** come with **me**. Now." He didn't really resist all that much; I think he was too confused to resist, to be honest and as a result I started explaining my behavior – though considering how frantic I was I'm not sure anything I said made much sense. "My parents are coming in _right now_! I'm going to be grounded, you're going to hide in my closet -" I said this as I opened the door to my closet and stuffed the bag in it, "they can't find you, if they find out I had a pet in here - a demon in here - I'll get grounded for life! I don't want to be grounded for life. It's bad!" He cocked his head at me and frowned a little, but did not resist as I maneuvered both him and Behemoth into the closet. (Looking back on it, I'd actually argue that his facial expression was rather humorous since he seemed completely and utterly shocked by my sudden display of overpowering strength). It was a tight fit but they _did_ fit. "Please! I'm begging you! Don't let them find you! Just stay here until I come get you! _**PLEASE!**_ Think of it like a game!"

"A game?" His face lit up a little in clear excitement, "What game is this?"

I paused and stared at him, "Uh…hide and seek. You hide and wait for my parents to come find you! If they do you lose! So don't let them find you! Mmkay?" He nodded enthusiastically and I shut the door at about the same time I heard my name.

"KOTORI! WE'RE HOME!"

I whipped my head around towards the door and mumbled, "Oh…_peaches_." After stealing a glance at my closed closet I marched towards my doomed fate. Peeking around my bedroom door and into the main hallway towards the front door I saw them.

The people who raised me, the people who were the cause of my birth and would no doubt be the cause of my death.

My parents were both in their early forties, well my mother was, my father had only just turned forty. Anyway, my mother's hair was perfectly straight, extremely short - about the same length as my father's - and dark as night. Just like me (or rather I took after her) she was baby faced and had lively blue eyes that usually had people guessing her at a much younger age, which was much to her immature delight. My father however had short and curly russet colored hair – which I inherited from him as well (although I die my hair blue so if it wasn't for my curls you'd never guess that). His eyes were brown as well and very stern; often he was guessed at a much older age than he actually was because he seemed to be someone who had seen many unpleasant things.

I was about to experience something unpleasant myself, but I couldn't hide in my room forever. So with yet another final glance at my closet and swallowing down the lump in my throat I stepped out into the hallway. "Mom, dad! Welcome home!" Heading towards them I met them in front of the front door and quickly found myself in my mother's arms. "How were your flights?"

Squeezing me even tighter in her arms my mother squealed, "Oh they were fine but I was missing you the entire time, sweetie!"

"I'm glad to hear that. What about you, daddy?"

He turned to me and narrowed his eyes suspiciously causing me to flinch in my mother's arms, "okay Kotori, what is it you need to tell us?" In response to my father's question my mother pulled away and glanced between us curiously.

Focusing her gaze on my father she responded to his question with her own, "Now what in the world makes you think she needs to tell us something, Daiki?"

"It's the same reason you know she wants something when she calls you mommy."

She nodded then looked towards me, "O~oh."

Beneath the power of both of their stares I averted my eyes in complete shame and terror; I knew my days were numbered but I had hoped I'd at least be able to prolong my life a few moments more. But alas, I was not so fortunate since my parents knew me far too well. So well, in fact, I wouldn't even make it through the welcoming pleasantries. "Well, you should probably follow me…" I decided it would be best just to show them instead of trying to explain it. I was certain that trying to explain it first would only make the entire situation worse.

With bated breath I slowly led them towards the kitchen. Then I waited. Fortunately they didn't notice the missing vase, but I think that might be because it was overshadowed by the hole in the wall of our island counter. "Kotori!" My mother sounded genuinely appalled and shocked as each syllable left her mouth, after the fact she was completely speechless.

My father not so much, "Kotori Ueda! What _did_ you do to the kitchen counter!?" I grimaced and stared at my feet – they were just so interesting. "I asked you a question young lady."

"W-well, it was an accident. I…" rubbing my hands together I felt the stinging in my palms again and was struck by a sudden stroke of genius, "fell." Okay, so I was no Einstein. But at least I had injured hands to show I did in fact fall at some point, and it was a living body that caused the damage.

"You…_fell_?" My father clearly wasn't convinced. My mother was by the counter inspecting the damage; she had already decided to leave this conversation to my dad unfortunately. She was always kinder in her punishments so I would have preferred her be my executioner.

"Y-yeah. Really hard."

"How'd you do that exactly?"

Still staring at my feet I did my best to rack my brain for some believable excuse and came up with one that would be at least half believable since, let's face it, I was always late, "I was running late and running in the apartment. I hadn't tied my tennis shoes yet, stepped on the lace, and fell into the counter…" I really hated lying, it made me feel guilty and let's face it – I sucked at it.

"Are you lying to me Kotori?"

"N-no…if I was lying I'd make up some story about a candy loving, green-haired, clownishly dressed demon climbing in through the seventh story window while I was running around naked in the living room. And then I'd say he got into a fight with his hobgoblin familiar that I found in a park and brought home and I'd mention – just in passing – nearly dying _twice_…and…stuff." No need to mention that's what actually happened.

By this point my mother turned towards me, "And are you okay, Kotori? I'd imagine a fall like that must have hurt."

"Yeah, it happened a few weeks ago so I'm fine now."

"I'm glad to hear that, sweetie."

With a relieved sigh and yet still ferocious eyes my father started again, "I am glad you're all right as well, but this is still unacceptable – you should have informed us of this incident as soon as it happened and you should have been far more careful in the apartment as well. You're lucky you didn't sustain more permanent injuries. As your father I need to make sure you learn from this so that I can justify allowing you to continue living on your own. So…" I flinched in preparation, "you're grounded."

I knew it.

Groaning I responded, "Yes sir."

"Now go to your room."

"Yes sir."

My mom spoke up, "I'll be making a quick dinner so I'll call you when it's ready honey." She sounded at tad bit disappointed, and I'll be honest I don't blame her. This isn't how I pictured our reunion going either. But nonetheless I nodded enthusiastically and forced a smile on my face as I headed towards my room.

Now I just had one more thing to deal with: the two demons hiding in my closet (well that and the vase – they hadn't noticed that yet). Fortunately, I had a window in my room so they could sneak out through there. Actually, thinking back on the entire ordeal, I'm not sure why I didn't just force them to leave through that window to begin with. I resisted face palming in front of my parents despite the desire to do so and entered my room making sure to close the door behind me.

Then I faced the closet.

The feeling that I was trapped between a rock and a hard place crept up on me. On one side were my parents who had already grounded me once and on the other was a demon that probably didn't even know what the word inconspicuous meant and could very easily catch the attention of my parents.

Well I couldn't very well leave them in there…or could I? I shook my head furiously in an attempt to shake that line of thought away. I couldn't_ actually_ do that, after all. My experience told me they weren't that tolerant. I had to let them out. Darn it.

With a sigh, I walked to the door and gripped the handle then I cautiously opened it. Admittedly, I was half praying they would be there and half praying they wouldn't. On the one hand, if they weren't there I'd have a meltdown wondering where they got to and if they were elsewhere in my house. On the other, if they weren't there that could mean they got bored and left the apartment all together and that wasn't a bad thing at the moment.

Fortunately, my prayers were half answered. Not that they couldn't be considering the fact I had guaranteed they would be, but that's beside the point. The point was Amaimon and Behemoth were both still in the closet.

Of course, considering what they were doing in the closet I really wished they weren't. You have to understand; when I shoved them into the little space I hadn't properly considered what exactly I kept stored in it and what they might get into. If I had I would probably have found an alternative hiding-place. Like under my bed or something – that would certainly give a whole new meaning to monsters under my bed.

Unfortunately, the point here was I hadn't and as a result they had found their way into some things that I would have rather they didn't. Specifically the clothes I kept hung up there; even more specifically, some of my nicer undergarments. While I certainly don't have anyone to admire my lingerie sets aside from myself, I still decided I'd buy myself matching black lace hipster underwear and a demi-cup brassiere just for the sake of having some, which I then hid far away in the back of my closet both from my parents and my own self-confidence (or lack there of). Never in a million years did I ever think that a teenage boy would lay eyes on them – well maybe not a million years but at least not yet.

Of course, this was much, much worse.

He wasn't just looking at them, he was trying them on. Incorrectly, mind you. He had the underwear on Behemoth's head and was about to put the bra on his except I interrupted him. "W-What are you doing!?" I half whispered-half yelled. The green-haired demon turned to me and held up the little piece of lingerie.

"What's this?"

My face started to burn as my head flitted between Behemoth and my underwear, to Amaimon, and then to my bra as I stuttered for the words, "Th-th-tha-that's m…n…give me that!" My hand flew forward in an attempt to snatch it from the boy, but he was quicker than I as he pulled it out of reach.

"Why should I, what is it?"

Still trying desperately to grab hold of the bra, I followed the demon into my closet, took hold of his shirt, and pulled him and my possession towards me. "I-I-It's my… it's my… it's … _none_ of your business! Just give it back!" Yet again, I did something I would quickly end up regretting. In my desperation to regain my undergarments, I tried to pull the demon boy out of my closet and wrestle his arm down lower so that I could snatch back his pilfered goods. Unfortunately, I kept most of my shoes in the floor of my closet so when I stepped backwards the heel of my foot caught on one and sent me tumbling backwards. Even more unfortunate was that my fall must have surprised Amaimon since he offered no resistance when my fall pulled him forward just enough to trip on a shoe as well.

We both yelped due to the shock of our sudden stumble. And we both reacted a little different but equally poorly – I tried to hold on to Amaimon's shirt; I _was_ thinking he'd be a sturdy solid thing – Amaimon barely did anything at all except ensure I _still _wouldn't be able to get my bra from him, which wouldn't have been my priority if I had been in his position.

Anyhow, my backside was very quickly introduced to my bedroom floor with a resounding thump and a slightly louder squeal. A squeal that was cut very short. By shocked silence and a sharp pain to both my forehead and the upper left corner of my lip, the latter being the reason for my silence – Amaimon was usually pretty chill anyway so I doubt that it was _his_ sole reason.

You see, by the end of our fall I had ended up lain out on the floor while Amaimon had ended up sprawled out above me. Furthermore, during the initial collision the sides of our foreheads collided causing me both a welt and a headache. Lastly, and probably the most notable thing to occur, his left canine bit into the upper left corner of my lip in an _**almost but not quite **_kiss that drew blood.

While it wasn't quite a kiss, it was certainly close enough to make my face flush and my eyes widened as I stared up at Amaimon. At the moment, he was sitting back up so that our roles were reversed from the last time we had ended up on the floor like this. The first time I ended up straddling him; now, he was straddling me with both hands on each side of my head. My face heated up even more as our position became more apparent and my hormones started painting pictures.

"Your face."

I blinked a few times as I tried to process the words coming out of his mouth. "W-what?"

Sitting up so that his weight was fully on his heels and his arms were free, he poked my lip with the hand _still_ holding _my _bra (which had caused this entire awkward situation), "It's bleeding."

Eyeing both his hand and my lingerie, I began to feel annoyance claw its way into my head. Clenching my teeth, I simultaneously smacked his hand away and snatched the bra. "MINE!" The look on his face when he realized I had successfully snatched his prize was priceless and made the aggravation disperse and a smirk take its place. But the moment of victory was short-lived as a green hobgoblin wearing my underwear on its head snatched it from me.

Literally. He stole my bra.

And then there was a knock at my door.

Alarmed, I whipped my head towards the entrance to my room as my father's voice rung out from the other side of the entrance, "Kotori? What was that? Are you all right? I'm coming in-"

"NO!" I yelped in horror. If my dad walked in right now while Amaimon was on top of me like this there was no way he wouldn't misunderstand the situation. And let's face it, explaining that he was hiding in my closet and in a tug a war to get back the sexy lingerie I kept hidden he ended up on top of me in this compromising position wouldn't make the situation any better.

There was a momentary quiet during which I saw the doorknob twist tentatively and as a result I screeched the only thing I knew would stop him since it worked every time, "DON'T COME IN! I'm changing!" The doorknob returned to its normal position as my father obviously pulled away on the other side.

Amaimon who had yet to move was sending jaded glances back and forth between the door and I. My gaze flitted to him just in time to see him open his mouth to say something, but panicked and flustered hands flew up to cover his mouth and I gestured for him to be quiet. Fortunately, he obeyed.

"Well, it's time for dinner so come out when you're done." I heard his footsteps as he walked away and I breathed a sigh of relief and moved my hands away from Amaimon's face.

"Who was that?"

I looked up at Amaimon and narrowed my eyes, my face was still a little – okay – a lot red so it kind of ruined the effect of my glare but that didn't stop me from trying to shove him off of me – he didn't budge. "My dad. Now get off already!"

His eyes flickered from my face and to his position seated on my hips. He looked a little surprised to find that he was, in fact, seated on me, and after cocking his head, gracefully stood up. I would have stood up immediately after him but I was internally fretting over the fact he seemed so completely unbothered by the whole event. He hadn't even been the least bit flustered by our _almost_ kiss and didn't seem to notice that he was on top of me in such a…fashion…at all.

Either I was really unappealing, or he was really dense. I stole a glance at his face and then myself. It might be both.

Not that I had time to consider that, I quickly reminded myself. Leaping to my feet, I quickly ran to my pajama drawer and fished out one of my many ratty pairs of sweats before turning to Amaimon and Behemoth. "Okay you two, you need to leave through my bedroom window before my parents catch you in here! I'm supposed to be grounded after all."

Amaimon furrowed his eyebrows in thought before directing his gaze to me, "grounded?"

_Of course_ he wouldn't know what that means, "It's like being under house arrest and solitary confinement at the same time – with the exception of visitation from your parents. Basically, except to eat, do some chores, and work, I'm not allowed to leave this room and I'm not supposed to see any of my friends. If you get caught in here, I'll get punished."

"…" I watched as enlightenment brightened his face for a moment, but a second later his eyebrows knitted together as yet another question arose, "Why don't you just get rid of your parents?"

I stared at him, horrified, as words poured out of my lungs, "What!? I could never do that! I love them and they're family – the only one I have. I've got to look out for them just like they do for me." My gaze flickered to the floor as I really thought about his words, "is that what you'd do to yours?"

"…" His response was a nondescript shrug.

After the fact, it was uncomfortably quiet for a moment. That response probably shouldn't have surprised me. I knew that while demons may have been capable of affection – it was clearly present in Amaimon's relationship with Behemoth – they were also not well known for possessing strong familial ties and I definitely always knew of the violence they were capable of. I guess sometimes I just forget. Admittedly though, I wasn't scared or repulsed, if anything I felt sad on his behalf – though he probably wouldn't want me to or understand why I did.

My thoughts and feelings were interrupted, however, when I saw his shoulders droop and his gaze fall to the floor. He was pouting, I realized.

Guilt and curiosity gnawed at me, which was totally not fair since none of this was actually _my _fault and certainly not my business but he was just so…so…endearing, and that meant I just had to ask, "What's wrong?"

"That means when I get bored I can't come over here to play anymore."

For a moment, I stared blankly at the sudden topic change, but, nonetheless, I still managed to follow his train of thought. Furthermore, despite realizing that he thought of me as nothing more than an instrument to relieve his boredom, I still couldn't help the heart warming feeling it gave me to know that he liked spending time with me and a small smile crept onto my bleeding lips. "Well it's only temporary…" I looked at my bedroom window, "and if you get really bored you're welcome to sneak in through my window – you just have to make sure you don't get caught by anyone but me. Think of it like a game."

Far faster than any normal person would have, Amaimon had covered the space between us so that he could lean over me a big, excited smile on his face, "YAY!"

"SSHH! Keep your voice down! And hurry up and go for tonight – I need to get changed and eat dinner! Come back another day." I forcefully whispered while pushing him towards the window, which was quite difficult – he was much stronger than he looks.

By the time we reached the window, I was panting for air and he was watching me with an amused and mischievous glint in his eyes. It made me question whether turning this entire grounding ordeal into a game was the best of ideas. More than likely not. Nonetheless, it wouldn't matter what I said now since he tended to have a bit of a one-track mind, so I might as well make the best of it.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, he opened my window and started climbing out of it, "Behemoth, come." I watched for a moment as the two of them crawled through the opening and leapt forward. For a moment, overwhelming fear for their safety washed over me and I found myself leaning out the window to check on them. Both to my surprise and not, they were perfectly fine but I did make a different shocking discovery. It was one that horrified me and one that I sensed would come back to bite me in the ass later.

Behemoth still had my undergarments.

* * *

"_**The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it."**_

_**~Ralph Waldo Emerson**_

* * *

I poked at my lip in the mirror. It looked much better than it did at least. The night Amaimon's tooth cut my lip, it had swollen up hideously and I had forgotten to wipe it clean of the blood before running out to the dinner table. Yet another thing I had to create a story for and explain away.

As far as my parents were concerned, I was the most uncoordinated girl known to man.

After a week of healing, the swelling was gone and the scab was pretty much gone. All that was left was a small red blotch that would fade after a few more days. Thank goodness. Looking in the mirror kept causing my face to heat up and redden because it served as a constant reminder of what caused it. I analyzed it as closely as I could without making the irritation worse before I finally moved on.

I moved through the steam filled bathroom and grabbed a hand towel, which I then rubbed through my hair – wiping away any stubborn loose water droplet hanging on to the blue strands. I had gotten a hot bath tonight, even though I wasn't very fond of baths, and was feeling quite refreshed. It was a much-needed feeling of refreshment. The last couple of days had been fun but hectic.

Amaimon had taken the idea of playing a game with my parents very seriously and had responded very enthusiastically. This of course meant I now saw him _every_ day and that was both as bad and good as it sounded. Bad, because that demon zapped all my energy by stressing me out and keeping me on my toes. But good, very good, because he could be very fun company and he kept me entertained by playing all kinds of simple games (many of which I hadn't played in years) and by having one of our many curious conversations even when I was supposed to be under house arrest.

I had to admit that when compared to past groundings, I spent more time smiling and giggling during this particular one – that meant I was most definitely enjoying it more than I should have been.

That being said, I had also had more heart attacks during this one, the number of times he had almost been caught by one of my parents – usually my father whose hearing is uncannily sharp – was immeasurable. Fortunately, demons were unnaturally fast and sneaky. Imagine that.

Now that my hair was no longer dripping wet, I hung my damp towel up on the towel rack by the bath before stepping out into the living room – already dressed in my fuzzy pajamas (my lesson was quickly learned after all and plus, my parents were home) – and said my goodnights to my parents still sitting on the couch and recliner.

This was the last night they'd be in town, tomorrow they would be leaving for a few weeks because of work yet again. As a result, today was also the last night I'd be grounded. Of course, this also meant that I had gotten to spend the evening watching movies and television with them as a way of attaining quality time together before they left. (I was still _technically_ grounded however.)

Finally, I turned towards my bedroom and started on the journey to my beloved mattress. Today had been a particularly long day. Amaimon had visited me earlier that afternoon right before lunch, which meant that he had to sit quietly in my room while I ate lunch with my parents. As you can imagine, the usual fear involving him getting impatient and leaving the confined space nagged at me the entire time and, as I said before, I'm no good at hiding things from _anyone_ anyway.

Actually, considering the demon's _impeccable _timing, this entire week seemed to have consisted of an unusual number of meals that seemed to drag on for hours longer than they did and left me utterly exhausted by the end.

But back to the point, Amaimon had already made his daily visit today and since he only ever makes one that meant that I'd get to go straight to bed tonight. Or at least, that _was_ the plan, but I find when you have befriended a demon the best-laid plans tend to go straight to hell.

Opening the door to my bedroom, it quickly became apparent that this would be one such plan. As was often the case with my initial discoveries of Amaimon in my apartment it wasn't a smooth encounter. Rather, it was one that had me recoiling backwards fast and hard enough to leave a door shaped bruise on my back.

Perhaps if I spent more time looking forward and less time habitually watching my feet when I walked I'd be less startled by his 'sudden' appearances since they would be far less sudden, but habits were hard to break. As it were, when I closed my door behind me and looked up instead of having the sight of my empty bedroom greet my eyes, I was instead met with Amaimon's face, upside down, and less than an inch or two away from my own.

My fight or flight instinct kicked into gear and I squeaked and retreated backwards until I slammed myself into the closed door behind me. My heart rate had hastened due to the initial shock and fear but as the cogs in my brain turned and I felt the first signs of recognition I relaxed.

However, as I became fully aware that the person settled on my ceiling was none other than Amaimon I frowned and whispered my irritation, "Darn it Amaimon! You scared me!" Taking in his choice of seats, I continued, "and for the last time, don't sit on my ceiling!"

As per usual, Amaimon didn't apologize for frightening me – to him I'm sure it only seemed natural that he'd be frightening so I guess it makes sense that he wouldn't. That and I don't think he especially likes apologizing for _anything_. That being said, he did drop down from the ceiling as per my demand. I watched in jealous awe as he did so; he was always so nimble when he did these unrealistic and incredible things. I could only dream of being so graceful myself, and let's face it – my dreams were always too realistic to grant me that particular wish. Figures.

After recovering my posture away from the door and listening for any signs of stirring from my parents, I cocked my head in question and eyed my companion. He met my gaze with his normally bored one and after a few moments of silence I realized he wasn't going to say anything unless I asked, so with a smile and a slight step forward I spoke, "You're back."

He opened his mouth to respond, but instead of saying anything he froze for a second and then close it. Then he cocked his head and without a single change in countenance started sniffing away at the air.

Feeling confused, my smile falter and I glanced around the room. He followed his nose in a very dog like fashion, which tested my self-control as I fought to maintain my composure and resist the curiosity demanding me to start sniffing at the air myself. It wasn't until his nose started to clearly lead him towards me that I did take a whiff of my hair.

Nothing unusual, just my candy cane scented shampoo, perhaps a little stronger than normal since I just got out of the bath. However, he clearly smelled something on me that I could not cause he kept coming. Without my realizing it, I had begun to back up away from him until I couldn't anymore because of the bedroom door. When it did become apparent I had no escape I finally asked the question that I had been dying to ask but had been putting off because of the demon's blunt nature, "Does something smell funny?"

He stopped in front of me, still wearing his uninterested expression, before he leaned down, nestled his nose behind my ear causing me to flinch and giggle a little (I was very ticklish there), and then sniffed my hair. "You smell like candy."

I would have deadpanned – of course; he _would be_ smelling my shampoo it _is_ **candy** cane (why hadn't I thought of that?) – unfortunately he was close enough to me that when he spoke I could feel his breath prickle my ear, so instead of deadpanning, I blushed and my heart started fluttering away in my chest.

As nonchalantly as I could manage, I hid my scarlet face behind my hand and moved across the door and wall as I escaped the thoroughly dense demon with no sense of personal space, "d-did you need something?"

"AH!" His eyes lit up as if he had just remembered why he had shown up in my house in the first place – he probably had. Still blushing and hiding, a small grin grew on my face as I watched him start digging around in his pockets. He always had so much energy and did everything in his own unique way – it was hard not to smile when I watched him.

After a moment of searching he pulled out what looked like two tickets from his pocket and held them up, "These. My brother called them tickets. He said they were for an amusement park and I should bring a," his eyebrows furrowed for a moment as if he wasn't sure he had the right word but he continued nonetheless, "_friend_. You said that word before so I thought to bring you."

My eyes widened in surprise. This might be the closest he's ever gotten to calling me a friend – though he still managed to somehow not. Nevertheless, my lips parted in an ear-to-ear Cheshire grin as the excitement and joy from his first invitation to do anything with him poured in to me. I covered the distance between us in nearly the same fashion he does when he gets excited – clearly he was rubbing off on me – and leaned in close enough that I could look up at him while clearly seeing the tickets to…Mephy Land.

After a few seconds, I snatched one of the tickets from his hands and held it up, "Go to Mephy Land with you? Okay, I can do that."

* * *

_~ Fin ~_

"_**It's a lot easier to say when something ended rather than when it began. Most of us can recognize the end from a mile away, but the beginning always slips up on us, lulling us into thinking what we're living through is yet another moment, in yet another day."**_

― _**Steve Yarbrough, Safe from the Neighbors**_

* * *

Finally finished this one. I don't know why but I really struggled with it. Meh. Anyways, next chapter will be a fun one – though difficult one – to write since we'll be meeting some of the other characters from Blue Exorcist and Amaimon and Chou will be introduced to each other as well. Anyway, I don't want to give too much away. (Though I guess I kind of did give away a lot…) The only other thing I'll mention in this little author's note thingy is that I have a set path…sort of. What I want to know is whether or not most of the people reading this do want to see a romantic relationship form between my characters. I don't really swing strongly either way so I figured I'd ask for my readers' opinions. Anyway, that's really all I have to say at the moment. Until next time! And please don't forget to review if you feel so inclined!


	5. First Impressions

As always – editing is minimal so I apologize.

I do not own any Blue Exorcist characters or plots just Kotori, Chou, and this story.

"_**I'm looking forward to the future, and feeling grateful for the past."**_

_**~Mike Rowe**_

**First Impressions**

My smile widened as I gave the woman back her change and handed the bag of candy to the little girl who was barely visible behind the counter. "Thank you! Come again!" My gaze and grin turned to the next lady in line, another mother here with her child, and I chirped, "Hi! How are you guys today?" The little blonde boy blushed a little and shyly hid behind his mother's legs, which caused me to giggle a little.

The mother smiled apologetically at me as she placed the box of rice candy on the counter, "Sorry, I'm afraid he's quite shy." I dismissed the apology with an 'it's fine' and a wave of my hand as I scanned the candy and told her the total. When she had paid for it I leaned over the counter and held out the sweets to the little boy.

Kindly I spoke, "Here you are." At first, he hid his face from me and I knit my eyebrows together in disappointment. However, when I caught his green eyes peeking at me curiously a gentle smile took the place of my disappointment. Pink in the face, the little boy stepped out from behind his mother and cautiously grabbed the candy from my hand.

"Th-thank you." It was so quiet I almost didn't hear him say it, but even so hearing him state his gratitude in such an adorable way was so heartwarming that the warmth spread to my cheeks in a slight blush.

"You are very welcome. Come back and see me again soon, okay?" I bit my lip to keep from laughing when his face turned scarlet and he hid behind his mother again, though he did nod his head in the affirmative. His mother smiled warmly at her son and then me.

"Thank you very much miss." His mother spoke.

"Not at all. Thank _you_ for your patronage." I waved to them as I watched them leave. An amused smile still graced my lips as I watched the blushing boy, no older than seven or eight, look back at me, blush harder, and turn back away before he left with his mother.

Leaning back away from the counter I looked at the clock, I still had an hour left of my shift, but almost nothing at all to do. Even so I moved from behind the counter and started tidying up the shelves. It was menial work, but I was in such a good mood that I found myself humming a happy tune anyway.

Tomorrow I'd be going to the amusement park! I hadn't been in so long that I couldn't help but be happy looking forward to it. I loved amusement parks, after all. Ever since I was little, I remember how I'd push and pull my parents towards every rollercoaster I was allowed to ride – or how I'd whine and cry yelling it wasn't fair when I'd find out I wasn't big enough to ride the same ones as the big kids. Not to mention the fair food. It was never healthy, but it was so good I just didn't care. Unfortunately, my parents were always gone on flights and my grandparents, who I stayed with in my elementary school years, often found it difficult to walk around the amusement park all day, so I only got to go on really special occasions when my parents were home.

When my grandparents died and I stayed with my aunt and uncle I'd get to go more often with my cousins, but they were scared of the big rides so I often wouldn't be able to ride them. Now that I basically live alone, I just don't have the time or money to go.

So on an occasion such as this, when I'd be going with a demon who would probably be more than happy to ride the giant coasters with me, I simply couldn't stop myself from skipping from place to place, grinning like an idiot all the time, and humming annoyingly happy show tunes while in the middle of work.

"What are you so happy for?" I jumped a little, startled by the unusually close voice behind me and I stopped humming almost instantly. Turning my head, I was met with the curious gaze of Chou.

My vibrant grin returned to my face causing Chou to squint her eyes and turn away, almost as if my face was glowing bright like the sun and she couldn't look directly at it. "I'm going to the amusement park tomorrow!"

She looked at me, a look of disgusted confusion on her face, "that's it? Are you sure there isn't more to the story?"

My head tilted in slight curiosity, "Yeah, that's it. Why would there need to be more? Isn't the amusement park a good enough reason as it is?"

"Can I come?"

"No." My response was instantaneous and firm. It wasn't that I didn't like spending time with Chou outside of work and school, I did. We _were_ friends after all, but Amaimon was going to be there and I was nearly one hundred percent positive bringing her along would lead to a disaster of some sort. Either with her teasing him or me about some ridiculous notion she would invent, or simply because Amaimon was a demon and as a result could behave in a very nonhuman way. Furthermore, Amaimon was uniquely honest about his heritage, and Chou, who couldn't see demons like I could, would no doubt have something to say about his sanity if he were to mention it, which could result in anger or violence on Amaimon's part. _And, _lastly, Amaimon's social skills were lacking, and Chou had limited patience with people as it is; I just couldn't see them getting along at all and my peacemaker abilities were severely lacking.

Chou was quiet and her eyebrows knitted together in annoyance, "Why not? You aren't going on a date and trying to hide it are you."

The look I gave her told her exactly how ludicrous I thought her suggestion was. "No. But I am going with another friend of mine and I don't think you two would get along."

She scoffed, "Please, I'm super nice to everyone. Of course, we'd get along." My expression grew dubious. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

I remained quiet for a moment before diverting my gaze, "Oh…it's nothing. Nothing at all." The tone of my voice relayed the message that it wasn't 'nothing at all' and Chou's eyebrows furrowed further in stronger annoyance than already present.

"Whatever." There was a moment of very awkward silence but then Chou spoke again, "Where are you going anyway?"

"Mephy L- shoot." Realizing my mistake, I covered my mouth almost as soon as the words left it and shot a worried look at my friend. She wore a victorious and extremely smug grin that told me she was going to be joining me tomorrow whether I wanted her to or not. I grimaced as she patted my back and walked away.

"I'm looking forward to tomorrow, Kotori!"

Well, that makes one of us.

* * *

It was tomorrow. Or rather, it would make more sense to say today was the day of my outing. And I was prepared. Well, as prepared as one could be. I had moved all of my necessities out of my purse and into a little drawstring sport's pack that was easier to carry around. I was wearing my most comfortable tennis shoes, denim shorts, and bunny applique T-shirt. And I had my ticket in hand. Furthermore, I was leaving an extra hour earlier than I normally would leave to ensure that even if I got lost I would still be on time. All in all, I was ready to face the _park_!

What I was not quite ready for was the unavoidable meeting between Chou and Amaimon. Of course, I don't think I could ever possibly be ready for that. Even so, I had done my best to mentally prepare myself. Mainly by reiterating the fact that it had to happen eventually and that everything would be just fine. Hopefully, the latter would prove true.

Stepping outside my apartment, I double-checked that I locked the front door and headed off towards the amusement park where I promised to meet Amaimon at the entrance.

A word to the wise, being prepared is always a great idea.

I state this since I was quick to discover that it was a very good thing I gave myself the extra hour because I, unsurprisingly, missed the first subway train to my destination. It wasn't entirely my fault. There were extenuating circumstances that led to my missing the train. First off, I wasn't paying attention and I walked past the station entrance without realizing it. Secondly, when I finally did realize what I had done and turned around, I again wasn't paying enough attention to my surroundings and got knocked to the ground by a running body. Stunned and annoyed, I forgot that I was in a rush and turned to face my offender fully ready to chew him out.

He beat me to it, that being said he wasn't chewing me out. He was enthusiastically apologizing. "I'm so sorry! Are you okay!?" I looked at the boy. He seemed to be the same age as me, was dressed in a True Cross school uniform (even though it was the middle of summer), had messy dark, bluish, black hair, pale skin, really pretty bright blue eyes, and was carrying around some long object wrapped in a red cloth bag. "I really didn't mean to!" He was flustered and pulling at his hair as he got to his feet in front of me. He looked so silly worrying like he was and he was so clearly sincere in his apology that I unfortunately ended up forgiving him on the spot. I'm sure if I had been Chou I would have rubbed salt in the wound, but, probably for the best, I was not my sadistic friend.

"I'm okay. Really it's fine. Plus, it's partly my fault too; I wasn't paying attention either." He looked at me for a moment, surprised it seemed, before a big smile appeared on his face. And he leaned down to help me back up.

"Here I'll help."

I let him do exactly that, "thanks!" With ease he pulled me to my feet. "Where were you going in such a hurry anyway?" His face contorted in shocked horror at my question making it clear that like me he was probably running late for something.

"Aw man! I'm gonna miss the train!" My own face contorted in the same way.

"The train!? Shoot!" He looked at me and I at him. Our eyes made contact and instantly we ran off towards the subway platform. The boy was really fast and I felt relieved knowing I didn't actually have to keep up with him. Of course, since I was going to miss my train, I certainly wished I could.

I lost track of the boy for a moment when he rounded a corner but, and not without noticing we seemed to be headed for the same train, I caught sight of him again reaching out dejectedly for the train that had just left. The very same train that I needed to be on. My face darkened with gloom and exhaustion as I panted for air. The boy turned around and, with no small degree of surprise, noticed me. "Oh! Hi again."

I would have said hello back but I was so out of breath all I really managed was a pathetic grunt and wave.

"…are you okay?"

I gave him a thumbs up, still panting.

"Do you want to sit down?"

I nodded and made my way over to the bench he was pointing at. He looked at me after I took my seat and then glanced awkwardly at the space next to me, as if he was debating whether or not he should sit down. I motioned for him to do so and he happily did. After a second he asked, "So…you weren't trying to get on that train were you?"

Having caught my breath I finally managed to respond using words, "yep."

"Oh." There was yet another moment of silence and I watched him look down, depressed, "sorry."

I looked at him before turning my eyes back to the empty tracks, "Eh, knowing me, I would have missed it anyway so don't worry about it." I looked back at him; he still had that guilty look on his face. I looked up in thought, "Although, if you feel that bad about it you could always let me punch you."

He blinked once or twice before finally exclaiming, "HUH!?" and retreating to the other side of the bench in a rather comical fashion. I couldn't stop my laughter at his expense and it was only made worse when he furrowed his eyebrows and paled in confusion.

"I'm kidding. I'd probably hurt myself more than you anyway." I finally managed to tell him when my giggles calmed down, "I'm Kotori Ueda by the way." I smiled and watched his face light up as his own good-natured grin embraced his face.

"I'm Rin Okumura. It's nice to meet you!"

"You as well." We sat silently staring at the empty tracks, both waiting for the next train. After it started getting uncomfortable we turned towards each other and opened our mouths simultaneously.

"_**So wh-**_" We stopped.

"_**Sorr-**_" We both stopped again. I bit my lip in an attempt to keep from laughing while he rubbed the back of his head and made an embarrassed, goofy face.

He started again, "Where are you going?"

I cleared my throat of the giggles, "Mephy Land." His face lit up with surprise before falling with disappointment.

"Aw man, I'm jealous!"

I chuckled, "You aren't doing anything fun?"

He pursed his lips, crossed his arms, and glared at nothing in particular, "No. I have a cram school assignment."

I grimaced, how unfortunate for him to be in school even though it was the middle of summer break for just about everyone else. "I'm sorry, that doesn't sound like a lot of fun. What kind of assignment is it?"

He suddenly sat up and proudly pounded his chest, "I'm an exorcist! It's my job to purify demons and stuff!" I blinked. Once. Twice. Three times. And my smile faltered before disappearing all together. Slowly but surely I felt the blood drain from my face. I don't think he noticed however because he continued. "Well, actually, I'm just studying to be an exorcist, right now I'm just an exwire." He shyly scratched his cheek, "but I still help out on missions and stuff! And one day I'm going to be the best exorcist anyone's ever seen – even better than my brother!"

I wasn't sure how I was supposed to feel about that. I mean, I had demon pet _and_ a demon friend, and I wasn't sure if that was something an exorcist would approve of. Realistically speaking, they probably wouldn't. They'd more than likely tell me I was being foolish, that I shouldn't trust a demon, or assume that they were somehow manipulating me. That or they'd simply assume I was uninformed on the manner and educate me. Either way, I was certain that my relationship with Behemoth and Amaimon was better left a secret. Better yet, it might be best if I kept the fact that I could see demons a secret, or at least unsaid, as well.

"Oh. Well…be careful and...good luck." To be honest, I wanted to tell him not to go, but I just couldn't. It didn't seem fair of me to tell him that simply because it suited me in this specific occasion. Especially since I knew, though I might not wish it was the case, that there were times when exorcists were needed and I may one day be one of the people who need them.

He got quiet for a second and started nervously twiddling his thumbs, "Actually, I'm kind of surprised."

I looked at him and cocked my head, "Why?"

"Well, there's a lot of people wouldn't believe me if I told them that, so I guess I didn't think _you_ would." He smiled and scratched the back of his head again, obviously feeling embarrassed.

The corners of my mouth turned upwards as I spoke, "Why wouldn't I? You seem like a pretty straightforward guy and I think you'd have no reason to make something like that up." I leaned back against the bench and looked up in thought for a second before continuing, "Plus, I'd much rather choose to believe you until you give me a real reason not to. Assuming your lying just because you say something that seems unbelievable to _me_ doesn't seem fair to you who does believe it, so instead I'll just choose to believe it with you. It's not like I have anything to lose by doing so; if anything, believing in the unbelievable will just make my life a lot more interesting, right?" I grinned at him again. He stared at me in amazement before smiling back broadly.

"Yeah." He looked away for a moment and blushed a little, though he kept smiling, "you know…you're pretty cool."

I blinked before smiling smugly and shrugging my shoulders, "I know." He blinked but ended up laughing at my conceited response and I was quick to join in. Our merriment was interrupted by the sound of screeching brakes, which alerted us both to the arrival of the next train, and we both leapt to our feet fully ready to catch this train.

Before a massive crowd could beat us to it, we simultaneously ran and attempted to board as it came to a halt and the sliding doors opened, however, the doorway was only large enough to accommodate one of as at a time. Of course, we only realized that _after_ we got stuck in the entryway.

When we came to realize our predicament, we looked at one another, gave each other awkward grins, and proceeded to wiggle ourselves free, after the fact Rin apologized again, "Sorry 'bout that."

As I made my way to an empty seat, I fervently waved my hands on front of my face and quickly replied, "No. No, it was my fault. I was in too much of a hurry." He beamed and I returned the smile, and gestured to the seat next to me, "You want to sit?"

He glanced around the train before he made any kind of response; it was as if he was looking for someone, and I couldn't help but wonder who. After taking in his surroundings, he faced me again and took the seat I had offered him, "Thanks!"

Moments later the doors closed and the train left the station. It was now that I decided to make friendly conversation – a conversation that may prove useful to me in the future (not that I was planning anything but it's always good to be informed), "So…what's it like being an exorcist?"

* * *

"_**It requires less character to discover the faults of others than it does to tolerate them."**_

_**~J. Petit Senn**_

* * *

"I can _not_ believe you actually managed to find someone who is _worse_ at being on time than _you_ are." Chou was not happy. And it was perfectly apparent by the way she stood, arms crossed, toes tapping, and eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. I had asked Amaimon to show up an hour before the amusement park opened before I knew that Chou would be accompanying us with or without an invitation. However, now that she was here waiting with me, I wished I had asked him to be here two hours before Mephy Land opened.

Rin and I parted ways on the train; he departed the train at the stop right before mine. Admittedly, on the one hand I was relieved he wasn't going to be anywhere near the park since I had no idea what kind of chaotic events would ensue if he and Amaimon crossed paths, but on the other he was such a positive and fun person I kind of missed having his company on the rest of my train ride. Plus, I was learning quite a few interesting things about being an exorcist – the first of which being I wasn't at all cut out for it.

Then there was the fact that when the train pulled into my stop I almost missed it and having someone else there to help me out would have been beneficial. This time around, it wasn't that I wasn't paying attention; rather the flow of people coming onto the train was very strong so I had a difficult time getting off. Exiting the platform, I was relieved to see that getting lost on the way to Mephy Land would prove difficult even for me since I could see the rides in the distance. That being said, navigating the streets still proved difficult and, as a result, I didn't arrive as early as I had wanted. Still, believe it or not, I _did _arrive before my two friends _and _fifteen minutes before opening, which meant I had to stand among the throngs of people waiting to get in.

If I'm being honest, I felt an odd mix of excitement and dread. I really wanted the two to get along but they both had such… dynamic, overbearing personalities I wasn't sure they would. Actually, I was fairly certain they wouldn't.

Right as the gates opened and the throngs of people started to flood inside, Chou showed up. As usual, she was dressed to the nines and I couldn't help but wonder what would make her think wearing a frilly dress, no matter how pretty, heeled sandals, and a purse meant more for appearances than usage to an amusement park was a good idea. Whatever the case, she made me feel extremely underdressed and self-consciously I fiddled with the messy bun on the top of my head, which was just about the most stylish part of my outfit. Well, at least I hadn't failed to put a little make-up on (I make it a point to never leave the house without a little concealer and eyeliner on), though my all-natural look was nothing compared to Chou's glamorous one.

And it certainly didn't help my self-esteem at all that the first words out of her mouth were: "Well, you weren't lying, this most definitely isn't a date." The ensuing argument concerning our choice of dress for the day was so trivial that it really isn't worth the effort required to recount it. So I won't.

Unfortunately, about an hour had gone by since Chou had shown up meaning, as per usual, Amaimon was running two hours late. Needless to say, he wasn't making a very good first impression on my impatient friend. "Seriously, it's rude to keep people waiting like this."

I gave my best attempt at a defense in Amaimon's stead, "It's not really his fault."

"Oh really? How's that?"

"He's easily distracted, and he has a brother that seems to make it a point to successfully distract him every time he's supposed to meet up with someone – specifically me."

Chou looked dumbfounded, "You mean he's always an hour late?"

"Actually he's always _two_ hours late. Like clockwork. I told him to be here two hours ago, which means he should be arriving right about now." Chou's jaw dropped and she stood at a complete loss for words.

"That's _completely _ridiculous." Well, not a complete loss it seems.

I shrugged, "Well, all things considered, I'm not really in any position to be reprimanding him for it."

"That _is_ true."

I was quick to follow up as I turned and set my stern gaze on her, "And I'd appreciate it if _you_ wouldn't. As a matter of fact, can you please keep all your negative opinions to yourself – just for today? Amaimon's kind of…sensitive to insults."

Chou raised an eyebrow, "Who names their kid Amaimon?"

"Like _that._ Negative opinions like _that_ would be better left unsaid."

From my peripheral vision I caught sight of a bobbing green horn and knew immediately that my demonic friend had arrived. I felt my heart leap into my throat and I turned to eye Chou before opening my mouth to once again warn her against being…well…Chou. "He's here…" Her head perked up and she began scanning her surroundings, "remember: _best_ behavior. Kind words _only_."

"Where is he?" She asked. I felt as if she was ignoring my orders, but nonetheless I answered her.

"Green hair." Her eyes widened in shock as she took in the sight of the, as always, flamboyantly dressed Amaimon. Her gaze turned to me, as if to say 'really?' I nodded in the affirmative and her eyes flitted back to the approaching demon.

As he got closer he paused for a second and gave Chou and I a very bored stare. Initially, he stared at both of us, but eventually his eyes fell on me alone and he cocked his head curiously. I could clearly see the question in his eyes; he wanted to know who Chou was and why she was here. I smiled nervously and scratched my head; he furrowed his eyebrows.

Turning to Chou, I gave her a bright and faintly apologetic smile, "Chou, would you wait here just for a second?"

My question caused her to frown in confusion and quickly ask, "Why?"

I glanced back at the glaring Amaimon, "Amaimon's kind of…shy. He's not comfortable meeting new people so I'm going to go greet and…prepare him." Well, I suppose it wasn't a total lie, but I can honestly say I don't actually think anyone would ever think to call him shy, but I digress. Anyway, Chou's eyes narrowed suspiciously but she gave me the go ahead with a stiff nod of the head. I bowed my own head in thanks and scurried over to Amaimon.

Once I was standing in front of him I opened my mouth to speak but was cut off by an irritated voice, "Who's that?"

I flinched a little but stood my ground, "That's my friend," I noticed his eyebrows knit together momentarily and his ears twitch as the word fell upon them, "Chou Hamasaki; she wanted to join us today and I thought it would be okay. You don't mind do you?"

His eyebrows furrowed more permanently as he glanced between Chou and I. "Yes, I do. I don't want her here." If I hadn't of needed to reason with him I might of face palmed and glared at him but instead I crossed my arms and tamed the rising annoyance.

"And why not?"

There was an awkward moment where neither of us spoke while he stared at me, unwrapped a lollipop, and put it in his mouth, but finally he answered, "I don't like her."

I sighed and cocked my head like a mother would towards her child before reaching up and taking the lollipop out of his mouth, "You don't know her, and don't talk with food in your mouth – it's bad manners." Normally, I probably wouldn't have said anything about the lollipop because I didn't really care, but I knew Chou would so I figured I best tell him before she did.

He blinked in shock as he stared at the lollipop in my hand and coldly retorted, "She's human," reaching up he snatched the lollipop back and replaced it in his mouth making me sigh and drop my shoulders in defeat, "I don't need to know her." This made me wince.

Ouch. That really hurt. I couldn't help but wonder if he realized that he had just implied that, since I was human as well, he didn't really like me either, which was quite the painful notion for someone who thought that we were becoming friends. Whether he realized it or not, the fear of that pain showing on my face led me to divert my gaze away from him and to the ground. I chewed my bottom lip and took a deep breath while I waited for the sting of his words to fade; once gone, I looked back up and forced myself to grin at him as I pleaded. "Well, I know her and I like her, so please – just for today, would you get along with her? I'll give you an extra bag of candy next time." He stared at me, his eyes still looked uninterested but the way his eyebrows and pointed ears twitched told me that my bribe had his attention; still, he hadn't accepted it yet.

My smile faltered a little as my worry began to leak out onto my face. The demon frowned slightly and diverted his gaze with a stubborn and displeased huff. "Two."

I cocked my head, "Huh?"

"I want two more bags." Relieved, I sighed and truly beamed at the demon; Amaimon eyed me eagerly as I did so, and I realized I hadn't verified my acceptance of the deal.

I nodded, "Two more bags it is." Bowing my head in gratitude I continued, "Thank you, Amaimon. Thank you so much." He huffed again and slumped his shoulders as he diverted his bored gaze away from me. This green-haired boy really hated not getting his way and he certainly wasn't shy about showing it, but he wasn't going to ruin this victorious moment for me.

Probably a little too excited that I had gotten his approval, I eagerly grabbed his hand and pulled him towards Chou. She had been standing with pursed lips and slumped shoulders due to her agitation, her impatience clearly making waiting for us to finish our conversation very difficult. However, when we approached, her demeanor did a complete one eighty so that she gave off a very welcoming aura.

Bless you Chou for doing your best to not act like you. I thanked her with my eyes when hers met mine before she faced Amaimon and waved, "Hello, I'm Chou Hamasaki. It's very nice to meet you."

The demon's eyes settled on Chou's face, a small twinge of boredom and annoyance before he looked away. I realized quickly he wasn't going to respond and leapt in to do it for him. "This is Amaimon." Chou looked at me, an eyebrow raised, which ushered a nervous laugh and a quick subject change from my lips, "Well then, shall we go?"

* * *

_~Five and a Half Hours Later~_

* * *

So this entire ordeal was going decently. Not great. But no one had tried to kill anyone else yet. Of course, I'm pretty sure that if Amaimon ignores Chou one more time she might try to use her heels to bash his skull in. I had done my best to play peacemaker, explaining to Chou that he just wasn't very good with social situations (I don't really think that's a lie either – his social etiquette was indeed lacking). And she unwillingly accepted that excuse for the first half of our trip around the amusement park, but as the day progressed she started harping on me every time I defended him. I don't think she realized that, considering who we were dealing with, he was actually behaving rather well, but I couldn't come out and tell her that.

Furthermore, Chou had commented more than once on some of his other eccentric tendencies. Like his tendency to always be sucking a cherry flavored lollipop or stand on things he shouldn't be standing on. (Of course, I was counting my lucky stars since he hadn't performed his little anti-gravity trick yet; I don't think I could talk my way out of that one.)

I walked next to Chou as we rushed to catch up to Amaimon who had ran off in a very child-like and thrilled manner towards the next ride that had caught his eye. A giant roller coaster, which I was sure Chou would never get on. As we walked Chou once again muttered her opinion on Amaimon's behavior, "He acts like a big kid. A rude big kid."

I awkwardly picked at my bangs, "Yeah, he can act like a kid. But I think that's just because he's so eager to see and experience all the things in this world, and I really don't think that's a bad thing." Chou glanced at me, a sympathetic glint in her eye. Almost immediately afterwards, she turned away in thought.

"Still, don't you feel like there's something off about him?"

"Huh?"

"It's just, for some reason he makes me really uncomfortable. It's like my nerves are on edge trying to warn me he's dangerous or something."

A bead of sweat ran down the back of my neck and I wasn't sure if it was from walking around or the fact that Chou might be catching on to the fact that Amaimon wasn't actually human. I mean, I knew Chou was sharp – she was really good at reading people and her first impressions are usually startling accurate, it was like she had a sixth sense or something – but I had been hoping she wouldn't notice anything too out of the ordinary (with the exception of his behavior, which could not be disguised). With a slightly nervous stutter, which I somehow managed to hide under my panting, I tried to wipe away her worries, "You probably just feel that way because he doesn't give you the type of attention you're used to from guys."

That ruffled her feathers and quickly diverted the conversation away from Amaimon, which was perfectly fine with me. "What is _that_ supposed to mean?!"

I smirked mischievously and ran off to catch up with Amaimon leaving my heeled friend to yell at my retreating figure.

I caught up with my other companion rather quickly, mainly because he was no longer running away but was now standing in line for the ride. He glanced at me before turning his gaze back to the attraction, anticipation written all over his features. Chou came up behind me only a few seconds later and glanced up at the ride herself. Her face paled when she took in the sight of the high and steep drops. "Um…I think I might sit this one out. You guys have fun."

"Oh come on, Chou. It's not that bad." My statement was punctuated by the high-pitched screams of the passengers as they descended the first drop and I knew then that was the final nail in the coffin. There was no way she was getting on this ride.

Glaring coldly at Amaimon, who had purposely and obviously turned his back to her, and me she turned and walked away. She stopped momentarily to call behind her, "I'll be getting something to eat. Find me when you're done." I waved good-bye and chuckled at her expense. Before turning back towards my other companion who was still staring eagerly at the coaster.

"Exciting, huh?" His ears twitched at the sound of my voice and he set his gaze on me. He was still beaming in anticipation and it was contagious causing the corners of my lips to turn upwards.

"Yep! This human creation is quite fun." His eyes narrowed for a moment on the people in front of him, "But waiting is not and I still don't know why I can't just make these people get out of the way."

That had been a conversation I had to have with him very early on. Amaimon had attempted to simply skip the line all together when we approached the first attraction, and when I informed him he had to wait he had tried to chase the people in front of us away. Fortunately, he seemed to be in a listening mood, so when I told him he'd get us in trouble if he didn't stop, he did.

"Those are just the rules, and if you want to ride the rides you have to follow the rules. That's just how it works."

"I don't like rules." He said it with such a serious and jaded expression that I couldn't keep my laughter from bubbling out no matter how hard I tried. And I did try, especially since the look on his face told me how little he appreciated my outburst.

Between giggles I did manage to say, "Me neither."

As the line began to move and we made our way closer to the front, I found that personal space was becoming a priceless commodity. Unfortunately, it would seem that we were not the only ones who were eager to ride the ride and as a result the closer we got to it the more people would start to push. I was fine. This was something you come to get used to after a couple of park visits, that being said, I was concerned for Amaimon. Or rather I was concerned for the people intruding on his 'bubble'.

I got the impression that a demon like him probably wasn't fond of humans touching him, or really even being within a certain vicinity to him. And the feeling was only intensified when I saw Amaimon's hands flex and his eyes narrow into murderous slits when a young man bumped into his shoulder.

Internally I repeated a prayer that went a little like this: _Please don't kill anyone._ _Please don't kill anyone. Please don't kill anyone._ _Please do-_ "Ouch!" I rubbed the back of my head. Well, that hurt. My prayer had been very rudely interrupted. Admittedly, I wasn't sure who did the interrupting but whoever it was had elbowed me in the back of the head cutting my internal chanting short. Of course, that might have been for the best since because of the prayer I hadn't noticed the line in front of me start to move.

Whoops.

Still, I did discover being slow also meant that Amaimon, who was in front of me, was safe from the shoving crowd behind me. Well, it might be more accurate to say the shoving crowd behind me was safe from Amaimon. It was a very useful discovery that I planned on fully utilizing.

Gripping the bars on each side of me in an iron vice, I became a wall that assured Amaimon had just enough space to keep him from attacking anyone, but still not so much space that the people who were being blocked got pissed off. I did not want to be at the center of a conflict, especially since most of the people behind me were in a much larger weight class than I was.

For the most part, everything was going great. No one had noticed what I was doing and complained, and I was largely okay. There were a few times when I was nearly sent flying forward and no doubt sustained a few bruises as a result, but my grip on the bars and quick feet kept me from falling or loosing my place, and I was tough enough to deal with a few bruises.

As was usually the case with my dealings with Amaimon, I was looking down at my feet and when I did finally look up I jumped out of my skin, lost my grip on the handrail, and nearly gave way to the pushing crowd behind me. Fortunately, I was able to stay in place long enough to regain my hold on the handlebars with solely the strength of my legs.

Amaimon had performed his trademark trick of invading my personal space without my noticing. You'd think considering how often he does this, I'd have gotten used to it by now, but alas I probably never would be. As for Amaimon, he seemed to be looking for something on my person and he was doing it in an unusual manner of getting within inches of wherever it was he was looking and sniffing the area, which was very embarrassing for me and just about everyone else watching.

"Um? Are you looking for something?"

He stood up straight in front of me and showed me his empty pockets, which he had turned completely inside out. "I'm out of lollipops."

I raised an eyebrow and stared at his face; he indeed was no longer enjoying the cherry flavored candy, "And you thought I just carry them around?" He stared at me, wearing a blank yet still somehow expectant expression, while I stared around him at the moving line and heard, not to mention felt, the aggravation of the people behind me. "Uh, Amaimon, the line."

He glanced behind him but didn't move. Instead he held his hand out expectantly. Apparently he _did_ think I just carried them around; he also seemed to think I was his own personal candy dispenser – although considering how often I do indeed have some on my person to give to him I hardly blamed him. Still, my mouth dropped open, though I'm not sure if it was in awe or horror, at his sense of self-importance. "Amaimon…the-the line. You've got to catch up to the line." Despite my words, his face exhibited no change from its expectant expression, but he did lean in closer with his hand still held out.

Once again, the fact that Amaimon had little understanding of respecting anyone's personal space aside from his own became very apparent. Still, I was doing a very good job of not blushing because of his proximity – I mean his nose could almost touch mine – up until a boy behind us got tired of waiting for my companion to move. "Would you two quit flirting and move already!"

My reaction was immediate. Blood warmed my cheeks and my hands flew from the bars to Amaimon's shoulders so that I could push him backwards with as much force as I could muster in my ruffled state. All the while, I was shouting over my shoulder, "We're _not_ flirting! He just wants a lollipop!"

I probably could have handled that better. Now I'm certain they probably thought we really were flirting.

Oh well. It's not like I'd ever see these people again. Who cared what they thought of us. Although, despite the fact I clearly knew that, for the moment, my cheeks still burned red. I guess, no matter how I tried to rationalize it, I was still embarrassed.

I looked up at Amaimon. He looked a little surprised – he wore the same facial expression he had when I shoved him into my closet a little over a week ago, and when our eyes met, he cocked his head to the side in a clear question (or at least I _assumed_ it was a question). I grimaced. I knew what he wanted to ask. He wanted to know why I had suddenly gotten so pushy – literally. Unfortunately, that wasn't a question I really wanted to answer. I couldn't picture him understanding why someone accusing us of 'flirting' would cause me to get all riled up and red in the face. Moreover, I don't think he'd really even know what flirting was, and I didn't want to explain the term to _him_ anymore than I wanted to explain it to one of the _kids_ that come into the candy shop.

Fortunately, I had an escape route. We were next in line. I turned Amaimon around and pointed at the empty seats in front of us, a huge open mouth smile adorned my face as I excitedly declared, "We're next!"

His face lit up and his previous question was clearly forgotten under the excitement of this moment. "Yippee!"

* * *

We came off the ride laughing. Admittedly, my hair was a mess, my heart was beating frantically inside my chest, and my legs were shaking from the rush of adrenaline, but that was just proof that that ride was most definitely the best ride in the park.

"That was awesome!" I declared.

Amaimon looked at me, a massive grin on his face, before vehemently demanding, "Let's go again!" I almost leapt at the opportunity; I was more than willing to do exactly that, unfortunately I remembered that Chou was waiting for us elsewhere in the park.

Apologetically and with a lot of regret I replied, "I really wish we could but we should really go find Chou. It wouldn't be fair to keep her waiting."

He froze and the smile disappeared to be replaced by his usual jaded expression. "I want to ride it again." I glanced at him, my eyebrows furrowed in apprehension at his displeased tone of voice.

"I-I mean, we can, but we should really meet up with Chou first…just to make sure she's okay."

And now, he glared at me, "She's ruining the fun. Why should we care about someone who's ruining the fun?"

I started to feel anger rise in me due to his selfishness, and the instinct to defend Chou grew in power, "Because she's my friend. Which means that, even if it harms me in some way, I'll still care about her."

"Friend?" His glare softened and morphed into a confused pout, "Then I'm not your…_friend_?"

I blinked, "You _are_ my friend…" I felt confused as I considered his words, I've told him that before so I'm not sure why he was under the impression he wasn't.

"Then what is _she_?"

"…my friend…" He frowned at my answer, confusion and irritation painting his features. There was clearly some kind of miscommunication happening here.

He leaned over me in an antagonistic manner, "Stop changing your mind. It's annoying." Click.

The gears in my head started turning as understanding came and I realized what the problem was, "Amaimon," I started, smiling fondly up at him, "I can have more than one friend at one time, you know. And I do care for and trust you – making you my friend. Chou _also _being my friend doesn't change that."

Amaimon eyed me for a moment, still looming above me, before pulling away, shrugging his shoulders like he never really cared, and marching off.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head in exasperation, but still smiled. He really drove me crazy, but somehow I really couldn't bring myself to mind. I watched him saunter away for a few seconds before running up and walking by his side.

* * *

"_**I am glad that I paid so little attention to good advice; had I abided by it I might have been saved from some of my most valuable mistakes."**_

_**~ Edna St. Vincent Millay**_

* * *

This was what I get for not paying attention and letting Amaimon lead. We were totally and completely lost. We were still in the park, but for the life of us we couldn't find the food place that Chou was supposed to be waiting for us at. Internally, I kicked myself over and over. I should have known better than to separate, this always used to happen when I was younger and back then I was always with someone who actually knew where they were going, right now, I stole a glance at Amaimon's blank face, I most certainly was not.

And even if he did know where to go, I had the sinking suspicion he probably wouldn't willingly take me there. After all, he doesn't seem to like Chou all that much.

Of course, nowadays I had something that could resolve this problem. A cellphone.

Thank goodness for technology. It saves the day again.

Halting my walk and reaching for my bag, I pulled it open and started rummaging through it, seeking out the little piece of technology. It took a little longer than it should have since the bag wasn't cooperating with me, but I did eventually pull it out. Shuffling through my contact list I found Chou's number and hovered my thumb over the dial button. However, before calling I thought it best to tell Amaimon what I was doing. "Hey Amaimon, I'm going to ca-" I looked up and stopped talking.

My eyes flitted back and forth at the space in front of me, and I sighed. Well, I had now lost both Chou _and_ Amaimon. Chou was at some mysterious unknown food stall, and Amaimon was lost in the mass of bodies in front of me. _Peachy_. Well, I certainly didn't want to be wandering around alone so I might as well call Chou and find out where she was, but I'll be sure to keep an eye out for green hair as well.

I held the phone up to my ear and waited for my friend to pick up. The annoying dial tone ringing in my ear as I did. After two rings, during which I started to get nervous she wouldn't, she picked up. "Hello? Kotori?"

"Chou! Hey! Where are you? I can't find the place you're waiting for us at."

There was a moment's silence, during which I'm sure she was undoubtedly sighing and shaking her head, before she finally spoke, "How in the world did you miss it? It was the little pretzel stand right across from the entrance to the ride."

"Oh." I did recall seeing that stand while we were near the back of the line; I just wasn't paying enough attention to know if Chou was there. I had been preoccupied with the pushing crowd of people and Amaimon. Of course, now that I knew that's where she was and I had clearly walked passed her – more than likely on multiple occasions – I just felt silly. "Well, I'll head over there now then. Don't go anywhere."

"Wasn't planning on it." I hung up the phone and looked to the horizon. Spotting the ride I had last been on was a simple task and I soon started heading in that direction. All the while I kept running my gaze over the crowd in hopes I'd be able to spot Amaimon. It was at times like these I wished Behemoth were here. He seemed to have radar when it came to locating his master and that certainly would have come in handy at the moment.

It also would have been convenient to know Amaimon's phone number – that is _if _he had a cell phone. If I really thought about it and considered everything I knew about the demon, I'd have to admit the likelihood of his having one was slim at best and even if he did I highly doubt he really knew how to use it. Well no matter.

Even if I couldn't find him, he seemed to have a knack for finding me. I thought back to that night about a week or so ago when I was lost in that rough part of town. The hair on the back of my neck stood up and I shivered at the memory. I still wasn't sure how he had located me or why he had decided to come find me. If I had to take a guess I'd suspect Behemoth had something to do with it.

"Kotori!" I stopped walking and turned towards the female voice that had just called out to me. Low and behold it was none other than Chou running at me from behind. "Jeez, what's wrong with you? You walked right past the pretzel stand."

"I did?" I looked behind her only to find that her statement had been entirely accurate, I had, in fact, been paying so little attention that I did walk right past it. "Oh, I did."

My raven headed friend shook her head, "Honestly, have you ever thought to consider that maybe your sense of direction isn't the problem."

"Of course it's not, my sense of direction is just fine." I replied huffily.

"You might be right. I'm beginning to suspect it's your lack of attention that causes most of your problems."

I crossed my arms, "I pay plenty of attention."

"Yeah, to your feet."

"It's so nice to see you again, Chou." My tone simply oozed sarcasm causing my friend to frown. After a moment, however, she glanced around curiously.

"Where'd your freaky friend go?"

Irritated with the way she referred to him, I ground out the reply, "Amaimon, you mean?" Seriously, was it really so hard for these two to at least be civil with one another?

She nodded, "Yeah, him."

"I lost him in the crowd."

She paused for a moment, looked up in thought, and set a worried gaze on me, "Actually, while I'm sure you probably want to go find him – could we maybe sit down and talk first?"

I looked at my friend. I saw in her eyes genuine concern and knew immediately what this chat was going to be pertaining to. Amaimon. For as long as I can remember my friends have always been very protective of me – no matter how little I knew of them or they me. My mom always told me it was because I looked so young, innocent, and fragile. Apparently, it reminded everyone of a child that needed sheltering and aroused that protective instinct in the people around me.

Admittedly, I didn't really mind so much. I would be lying if I said it didn't feel nice to be protected by the people around me – especially while growing up without my parents company for extended periods of time. However, I was getting older now and was starting to get sick and tired of being treated like a naïve child incapable of making my own decisions. I basically lived on my own already and did perfectly fine, so while I appreciated her concern, I really didn't want Chou telling me I should or shouldn't be friends with someone.

I think this sentiment was written quite clearly on my face because Chou had begun backtracking before she had even started, "Look, I'm not going to say you shouldn't be friends with him. It's your decision and your old enough to make it." _Heck yeah, I am_, I thought as I listened to her talk. In the midst of my internal commentary, I observed her look down for a second before looking up with determined eyes, "I just can't help but get the feeling you're going to get hurt. Like, really hurt. I know it's not fair of me to say that about someone I only just met, but I just can't explain it – I feel like something really bad is going to happen to you if you keep hanging out with him."

"Chou," I started evenly yet still quite firmly, "I appreciate your concern, I really do. But, as you pointed out, I'm old enough to decide for myself who I will and will not befriend. I trust Amaimon, and I don't believe that my being friends with him is a bad thing. I can assure you I will be fine. He is a good friend and won't hurt me. So don't worry."

She rested a hand on my shoulder, "Fine then, I'll trust _you_ and I won't worry, but please – Kotori _please_, promise me you'll be careful. Don't get involved in anything you shouldn't, okay?"

I smiled reassuringly at my friend, "I promise, I won't." Even as the vow left my lips, I felt like I had somehow already broken it.

"Well then, we should probably go find that weirdo now, huh?"

I grumbled, "I won't say he isn't a little peculiar, but _please_ don't call him that in front of him."

She snickered, "No promises." _And I can't promise I'll be able to stop him if he decides to pulverize you,_ the thought crossed my mind, but I left it unvoiced. I highly doubt saying such a thing would ease her already tremendously present worry.

I won't say it didn't bother me that Chou got such strong negative vibes from Amaimon, for an instant her words had me recalling the nightmare I had a little while ago. However, I brushed it aside. Amaimon himself was not a threat to me, I was certain of it.

Chou and I began our search for Amaimon immediately following our conversation. We wandered the park for a little over half an hour before Chou got fed up and turned to me, "Don't you have his phone number or something?"

"No."

She looked dumbfounded, "Why not?"

I shrugged, "It never came up."

"Then how do you guys plan stuff?"

"Well, we sort of plan our next adventure whenever he visits." I gave my friend a casual grin, hoping she'd not think to deeply on the matter or press the issue.

I think it might have worked, that or she was simply more concerned with finding him so that we could do something more entertaining than what we currently engaged in, "Okay then, how about this. If you were him where would you be?"

My response was so instant and deadpan that I made Chou giggle, especially considering what I said, "Drooling over candy."

"Really, just like a kid. Alright then, to the nearest candy store!"

As it would turn out, I was spot on. As we approached the side store specializing in sugary sweetness, I easily spotted the green-haired boy pressed up against the window display eyeing the mountain of candies before him. It was adorable yet I still covered my face with my hand; the looks he was receiving from the passersby and the employees were so disbelieving and traumatized that I felt embarrassed, and I wasn't even the one they were looking at.

"What _is_ he doing?" Chou asked, incredulously.

"He's being Amaimon."

She shook her head, "Can you go…I don't know…stop him? He's freaking people out. Myself included."

I laughed, "Oh come on, you have to admit it's kind of cute in an odd way."

"You and I have very different definitions of cute, Kotori." My laughter grew in volume, catching the attention of Amaimon who, upon noticing my presence, turned away from the window and ran towards me in his usual manner.

His eyes gleamed with excitement as he grabbed my arm and dragged me to the shop, "There are so many I've never tried before!" I stumbled but only for a moment. With a charmed grin I reached out, managed to grab ahold of Chou's arm, and dragged her along with us towards the candy store. She let out a quick squeak, 'hey' as I did so but she did not attempt to pull away until we had entered the store.

Amaimon too released me once we were inside so that he could explore. I stood watching him for a few moments and snickered. The vast majority of this shops occupants were children, much like the one where I worked, and if Amaimon had been a few feet shorter he would have fit in perfectly since he was running around and picking up candy in the same way the kids were.

I was perfectly content to just watch him up until he started unwrapping one without paying for it. Flustered, I dashed forward, "Amaimon! No! You have to pay for that!" He paused for a moment and stared at me as I approached. When I was within range I attempted to snatch the partially unwrapped candy from him, but he pulled it away and held it out of reach. It was like the situation with my lingerie all over again as I jumped around trying to take back the merchandise. "Amaimon! Come on! You've got to pay for it or put it back!"

The thing that eventually stopped our childish display was laughter; it started out muffled and somewhat reserved, but eventually grew loud and rang through the entire shop like bells. I turned around shocked; I knew that sound and only ever heard it on very rare and extremely special occasions. Chou was laughing, truly laughing. She was laughing so hard she was crying, and she was laughing at _us_. When she finally gained enough composure to wipe away her tears and speak, the words she said blew me away and I stood in awe, "I think I might have been wrong."

Slowly but surely the corners of my mouth curved upwards in a grateful smile, which she returned. The tender moment, however, was quickly interrupted by a horrendous crunch behind me. Aghast, I turned back around and sure enough Amaimon was eating the very same candy I had tried to wrestle from him just seconds earlier. Chou's laughter began again prompting a sigh from me.

* * *

I waved good-bye to Chou as she departed from the train station that evening. "See-ya later!"

"You too! It was nice meeting you, Amaimon!"

The green-haired boy gave a non-distinct grunt which sounded a little like a, "Uh-huh." It still wasn't much but I couldn't help but feel they had grown a little closer. Not that it surprised me. I glanced at the bags of candy he was currently digging through, after all, Chou had bought all those sweets for him and Amaimon did enjoy his sweets.

Somehow I suddenly didn't feel so bad for bribing him when we first met, especially considering Chou had basically come out and admitted that she was doing the exact same thing in buying those for him. Of course, Chou doesn't know what I know about his heritage so it isn't quite as bad. In my case I was bribing a powerful demon. In hers, as far as she knew, she was bribing a childish teenage boy. Well, whatever.

I turned to look at him as we walked towards my apartment, "So…did you have fun today?"

He threw a piece of candy in his mouth, "Mfyeamfh." I blinked, before furrowing my brows.

"I have no idea what you said, but I'm going to assume you said yes."

He swallowed and reached for another piece of candy, "Can we go back?" He asked as he unwrapped it. "Without any bothersome people." The last part was less a question and more a demand. Well, so much for him and Chou growing closer like I had thought.

I sighed, a little disappointed that he still wasn't very fond of Chou, "You really don't like Chou, huh?"

He shrugged as he popped the unwrapped candy in his mouth. Well, that wasn't a no and it gave me a little hope that they might be friends in the future. I wouldn't push or rush things though, it wasn't for me to make Amaimon like anyone – it was his decision to make and he could take all the time he needed to make it. Whatever his decision, as long as he was at least civil in her presence, I'd still be okay with it.

"Mnsomnmcanmngwe?"

I raised an eyebrow, "Swallow your food Amaimon, I can't understand you, plus it's bad etiquette."

He stared at me while he chewed, swallowed, and unwrapped yet another piece of candy, "Can we go back sometime?"

I beamed and opened my mouth to speak, as I did however he shoved the piece of unwrapped candy in my mouth. I blinked, shocked and confused but eventually I snickered and responded, "Mngo mnback wigth nyou? Mokay, Mi ncang ndo thnat."

* * *

_~Fin~_

"_**I'm against endings. I'm against things being over. Being finished should be stopped! I am Comrade-in-Chief of going on. I support furthermore and etcetera!"**_

― _**Saša Stanišić, How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone**_

* * *

I'd like to end this chapter by stating two things: first of all, the people have spoken. I will eventually be bringing romantic elements into this story. That being said, my view on love and romance is that a 'true' love is built on a solid foundation, a lover, partner, boyfriend, girlfriend, or what-have-you should be your _best_ friend. Because of this I am a firm believer that love at first sight can't be true love, if anything it is an infatuation or strong attraction that may eventually lead to it, but you have to _grow_ to love someone, I don't believe it is something you can simply _fall_ into. Because of that, I guarantee you this will be a very slow moving romance, I wouldn't expect to see the word love coming out of Kotori's thoughts or mouth any time soon and that goes for Amaimon as well (at least towards each other – they might say it about other things…like candy, heh) That's all for that point.

Secondly, I really want to thank all of you who reviewed, favorited, and followed this story of mine. I was not expecting to receive such (or so much) positive feedback and I can't express to you how happy it made me to see that so many people like my story, character, and even writing style. *Bows* Okay that's all, I just really felt the need to express my gratitude. Mushy gushy stuff over.

As always, I thank you all for reading this, and I ask that if you felt motivated to do so, please leave a review.

P.S. Sorry for the delay and any OOCness. I tried really really hard to keep the characters In-Character but in Rin's case there wasn't much opportunity for him to display his character (though he will be given that opportunity later on), and in Amaimon's well…he's just hard to get right I think. As some other's pointed out in reviews he doesn't get much time outside of combat or interactions with Mephisto and Rin so figuring out how he would react or what he would say and how he would say it in certain situations is difficult, but I'm really giving it my best effort. Suggestions are always welcome either in a review or pm so please don't be shy to assist me. I always love being given the opportunity to improve and want to meet your expectations and keep you enjoying the story and I for one hate it when the characters aren't in character because it makes me feel like I'm not really reading about those characters. Also, sorry if you were hoping for more characters to show up, but I'm trying to pace the story appropriately and keep in mind that at this stage of their friendship too much conflict could easily break apart the still makeshift relationship they are currently in. Anyway, until next time.


	6. Monsters in the Closet

Lightly edited, not extensively, don't expect utter perfection.

I do not own Blue Exorcist. 

"_**I have not always chosen the safest path. I've made my mistakes, plenty of them. I sometimes jump too soon and fail to appreciate the consequences. But I've learned something important along the way: I've learned to heed the call of my heart. I've learned that the safest path is not always the best path and I've learned that the voice of fear is not always to be trusted."**_

― _**Steve Goodier **_

**Monsters in the Closet**

It's extremely hard to get lost when you only have only one path laid out before you. But I have a rare talent for losing my way. My eyes settled on the single road. It was bright; it was straight; it was safe; it was the path that I should take and I saw the distant cheerfulness it lead to. I saw figure after figure walk down it and they all ended up happy. They were happy and totally ignorant of what existed in the shadows on each side of the road. They were happy because they were totally ignorant of what existed in the shadows on each side of the road.

I was too as I took step after step on the clear road before me. I never bothered to look to each side of me – even if I did, the bright light of the road distorted any image and squelched any other light that may have existed anywhere else.

Well, that was a lie. I could see more than I let on. Not a lot, but more than the others. Faint and passing images occasionally caught my eye and curiously I'd approach the edge of the road, but every time I'd get close, the voice or the hand of an unrecognizable blurring figure would stop me and remind me what was normal – where I should be going – warn me against stepping off the bright path. Deter me from being unique and not travelling down the same path as everyone else.

My curiosity suppressed and hidden away, I turned away from the bad, the evil shadows and back to the right, the good path.

Without realizing it, I fell in line with the fuzzy figures that lined the way. Step. Step. Step. Step. Caught in the flow, I thoughtlessly found myself following the crowd and I was perfectly content to stay that way. I was unaware of any other possible road, but that might have been because there was not yet any other road to follow.

The thought had never occurred to me that someone at some point must build every road.

But that thought might be occurring to someone else somewhere else now.

It might occur to me someday too. Perhaps, sooner than I think. Maybe all I need was a catalyst to get me started, to get me thinking, to make me curious enough to step away.

_Whimper_.

Speak of the devil. _What was that? _I stopped my lifeless marching and looked around, looking to the unclear people still walking forward. _Had no one else heard that?_ I called out, asking, but no one spared me a glance. _Perhaps, I had imagined it?_ I turned once again to take a step forward towards the same destination as everyone else.

_Whimper._

It was louder this time. In greater pain. I couldn't take the step forward. I couldn't leave the creature behind sounding as it did. _Didn't anyone hear that!_ I called again. My voice seemed to echo loudly around me, but no one stopped. Their march droned on. My brows furrowed in frustration and I took a step backwards.

I bumped into another mindless figure. I noticed now, their faces were faceless, devoid of any feature. How had I not seen that before? How blind had I been? Disturbed I stepped away from the faceless person, closer to the edge of the road, and lifted my hand to my mouth. To my horror, I realized upon touching the space where my lips should have been that I too had no face.

Why?

What did it mean?

Why did I look exactly like these faceless things?

I wanted to get away from them – they were infecting me. But where was I to go? There was no other road, no other place for me to be.

_Whimper._

I turned towards the sound again. It existed in the shadows – away from this bright path. I could go to it. I started towards it but was stopped by a faceless person – again I was warned against leaving the road, against the dangers of the dark, but this time I frowned and forcefully pulled away from its grip, _let go!_

Now, I faced the edge of what I'd always known and something new and generally unknown. As I stared out at the endless expanse of shadows, my heart ached with fear. Momentarily, I again saw the outline of some creature before it disappeared once more. I wasn't sure whether I should be scared of what I saw or not.

_Whimper._

Again! Somewhere there was someone or something in need of help! My help! My gaze flitted to the road before narrowing on the gloom once again.

Determined, I stepped off the blinding road.

My eyes shot open and I awoke to the sound of my iPod blaring through the speakers of my alarm clock. Groggily, my eyes searched the room for the source of the noise. Eventually, they narrowed on the little electric device and I groaned and buried my face into my pillow in a desperate attempt to avoid the impossible.

I wasn't a morning person to begin with and coupled with the fact that I hadn't been sleeping all that well recently due to the bizarre dreams I had been having, I really didn't want to get up. Blindly, I searched my nightstand for the alarm, and then I searched my alarm for the snooze button. It was a double-edged sword. I loved the extra ten minutes I got every time I pressed it, but I hated having to run around like a chicken with its head cut off when I pressed it too many times.

After I had successfully, albeit forcefully, pressed the snooze button, silence returned to my bedroom and I sighed into my pillow. My eyelids, my arms, my head, my whole body was so heavy with fatigue, I honestly didn't think I'd be able to get up even if I had wanted to.

The seconds ticked by and my consciousness began to fade out once again, that was very easily done when you were never fully awake to begin with. It was a shame, really. I had almost completely gone back to sleep, but alas it was not to be.

Behemoth made sure of that.

A growl and a quiet roar that, in my drowsy state, I mostly ignored was the only warning I got before a weight was dropped on my back pinning me to the bed and knocking the air out of me with a scream that was muffled by my pillow. My limbs momentarily, not to mention uncoordinatedly flailed around in a desperate attempt to get the object off of me.

"Mmmeh-eeeeem-mmuuuuh!" I screamed into the pillow, "ngeh oh uh me, nam ih!"

I loved Behemoth, I really did, but by golly it was too early for this. Why did he have to be a morning person – or rather demon – anyway?

He squirmed a little, it was painful and I groaned in agony as my spine popped and my ribs shuddered against his weight. In the next moment, his weight was gone from my back, instead bearing down on the little space between the edge of the bed and me.

With yet another groan, I turned to face him. He wore his trademark goofy, innocent, yet still somehow guilty grin. I sighed in resignation before smiling, "Morning, Behemoth." He nuzzled his nose into my face, tickling me and making me giggle. Habitually, I returned the show of endearment and rubbed my nose on his.

To be honest, I wasn't sure when I start getting so physically affectionate. Nuzzling with anything – even teddy bears when I was child – always seemed weird and improper growing up. But after having been around this extremely touchy demon, I had either grown desensitized or fond of intimacy. It was probably the latter, but I'll never admit that.

Of course, even if it were the case that I was fond of the intimacy of nuzzling, I'd only ever nuzzle Behemoth. Anyone else would be strange; people don't nuzzle people unless they were involved romantically.

I giggled again as the hobgoblin started to burrow his face into my cheek with more vigor, effectively pushing me closer to the wall.

"Good morning."

I briefly glanced up and greeted the green-haired teenager, "Good morning, Amai-" I shot up to look at the demon currently situated on my bed's headboard, knocking a yelping Behemoth off the bed in the process, "AMAIMON!?" Flustered, I turned back to Behemoth; trying to crawl out of bed after him, I called out "Behemoth! I'm sorry! Are you okay?!"

I should have paid more attention as I scrambled towards the edge of the bed, but alas I didn't. So when I got a little too close and I went to put my hands down, all I found was air and I quickly began to fall face first towards the floor. I squeaked in surprise and tried to grab the edge of the bed, but even after I had gripped the sheets, I was already too far forward to stop my descent and merely brought the mass of linen down with me.

My first instinct was the close my eyes and brace my face for the soon to come collision. I waited. I waited a little longer. Apparently the fall to the floor was much higher than I thought it was.

It took me another moment to realize I was no longer falling and when I opened my eyes, I discovered that I was hanging upside down about an inch from the floor. Looking back to the headboard, I realized why that was. Amaimon had a firm grip on one of my feet and was holding me up by it.

We made eye contact and awkwardly I started to thank him, "Oh – uh – tha-" WHACK! "OW!"

His laughter rang out in the bedroom, child-like and totally grating on my nerves. The green-haired fiend had released me without any warning so that I'd fall on my face, which meant now he was laughing at my expense. "It's not funny!"

I rubbed my nose as I sat up and glared at the giggling teenage demon. Behind me the sound of monstrous snickers alerted me to the fact that Behemoth too had found humor in my painful situation.

Indignantly, I puffed up my cheeks and scrambled to my feet in an effort to regain some dignity. I turned away from Amaimon, I noted that his laughter stopped when I turned my back to him, and shot a cross look at Behemoth, which seemed to halt his chuckles as well, before stomping out of my bedroom and adamantly declaring, "No candy for either of you!"

Behind me I heard Behemoth's whimper and Amaimon's discontented gasp.

Yet another hectic morning, just like the day before and the day before that and so on and so forth, all of which were a direct result of these two's occupancy in my life. And though I seemed peeved and wasn't one to like busy mornings or mornings in general, I wouldn't trade these mornings for anything.

These feelings, these smiles, these memories, they were precious to me. Even if we smile at my expense, I'm simply glad to be smiling with them.

Still, Amaimon was never so punctual as to be here at the same time every morning, that time being when my alarm clock went off. I wonder what started this sudden promptness _every_ morning, anyway?

I know he started doing this every day a week ago, three days after our visit to the amusement park, but I have no idea what started it. Of course, I don't really mind that he comes, so I don't really care that much why he does. But I do care a little.

Walking into my kitchen, I got myself a bowl, found the cereal, and retrieved the milk. As I poured myself my breakfast, I heard the sound of someone creeping around behind me. I didn't need to turn around to know it was Amaimon and Behemoth trying to sneak into my candy cabinet. Without turning towards the two troublemakers, I chided them, "Get out of the candy, you two."

"Don't want to." I turned to face Amaimon and Behemoth then. They were crouching on my counter; a bag of candy was in Amaimon's hand and he was getting ready to open it.

Hands on hips, I walked over to them. I gave Behemoth a 'you know better look' and he immediately and apologetically hopped off the counter. Unfortunately, my looks were relatively ineffective when dealing with the Earth King. I tried it anyway. But alas, it seemed as though my look merely bounced off his stony one.

Upon realizing that was getting me nowhere, I decided to try 'plan B'. You'd think I'd of learned my lesson by now but it seems – I never do. Lunging forward I attempted to snag the candy from him, "Give me that!"

I failed miserably as the green-haired demon pulled the bag out of reach far faster than I could ever hope to reach it. "Nope."

After so many times of being in this situation, I had come to realize that jumping around and pulling on his shirt would not get me any closer to getting the candy back. With a huff I crossed my arms, refusing to play that silly game again, "Amiamon, I'm not kidding. Give me the candy."

He blinked and his eyebrows furrowed somewhat. I wasn't sure if it was in disappointment that I wasn't jumping around or because I had _told_ him to do something, it hadn't taken me long to realize during the time that I'd known him that he didn't like being _told _to do anything. Thinking back on what I said, perhaps I should have added 'please'.

Within seconds, my personal space had been invaded by the teenage demon as his face moved in on mine. I felt my eyes widen and my arms uncross so that I could hold them up between him and me. His narrowed, cold eyes held my surprise ones and he issued a challenge, "make me."

I withdrew slightly, unwillingly to take him up on his challenge, plus his face was too close and it was causing mine to redden. I really wish he wouldn't do this – he does it all the time, so much so I'm beginning to wonder if he really doesn't realize that it isn't normal to get this close to people, or that it flusters me every time he does. Nonetheless, I didn't say anything. Instead, I steadily backed away from the boy in an attempt to create some distance between him and I. Unfortunately, as he usually does when I start backing up, Amaimon followed.

Before I knew it, the small of my back had collided with the counter behind me and as a result my hands flew behind me, quickly making contact with the counter as well as the cereal bowl.

I flinched and broke eye contact with the stone faced demon as I turned around and frantically attempted to catch the ceramic bowl before it hit the ground.

I failed miserably. I barely managed to tap the edge of the bowl as it fell to the floor, and soon I heard the sound of shattering ceramics and saw milk and cereal spill all over the floor. "Shoot!" I hopped out of the way as the sharp shards of the shattered bowl flew across the floor. When all was calm again, my shoulders drooped in exasperation and I grumbled in frustration as anger began to boil up in my worn-out, unrested mind.

I would have been fine if I had had just a moment to cool down. But Amaimon just had to laugh. I bit the side of my lip, and gave him a sidelong glance as I leaned down to start picking up the pieces of my bowl. I wasn't going to react negatively. I wasn't going to.

Yet, as I worked to clean up the mess, Amaimon's snickers grated on my nerves until finally I sliced my finger open and had had enough. I flew to my feet, slammed the shards I had collected down on the counter – tearing my hand up further in the process, and shot Amaimon the most murderous glare I could while I stomped away and hissed, "_quit _laughing – you jerk. It isn't funny."

He silenced almost immediately and cocked his head in clear confusion. For a moment, he simply sat in silence but eventually is face morphed from confusion to irritation and he opened his mouth to say something. Unfortunately, in my anger dazed mind I didn't give him the chance to do so. By the time he was ready to speak, I had reached my room and before he could do so, I'd slammed my bedroom door closed.

Turning around, I leaned against my door and gradually sunk to the ground. Once seated against the door, I took a peek at my hand, which was now starting sting. It was bleeding really badly – I really shouldn't have slammed the bowl shards down like that.

I felt that I probably had over reacted – no I knew I overreacted and I wasn't entirely sure why. I was normally so calm and levelheaded, things like that didn't bother me. But, I guess even I sometimes have my limits. I'd put up with his teasing (although I usually laughed along with him), his utter lack of manners (but I'd seen him take steps towards getting better), his mean remarks (though I'm fairly certain he doesn't even realize what he's saying), so much (although they're usually accidents or his total unawareness of social etiquette), and I was just so tired. So between the pain of my hand, the huge mess, yet another thing of mine breaking, and his laughter, I just couldn't stay calm.

Talk about an awful start to my day.

I buried my face into my knees for a moment. Then looked up. This wasn't like me. Even I knew that. My eyes settled on the teddy bear still sitting on the end of my bed. As I gazed at it, a small smile grew on my face and I remembered how I came into possession of the little toy just a week ago.

* * *

~One Week Ago~

"_**Adolescents are not monsters. They are just people trying to learn how to make it among the adults in the world, who are probably not so sure themselves."**_

_**~Virginia Satir**_

* * *

Sitting on a park bench for hours on end afforded me unique opportunities to contemplate life, which I was fully willing to take advantage of. Especially since I had more than enough opportunities of that nature.

Whether it was out of spite of having to always wait for him or simply because I was hungry, I was currently sucking on a lollipop – one of Amaimon's promised lollipops. Admittedly, when I first met him, I'd never have been so presumptuous, but now that I had known him for as long as I did – suddenly, I was a little less afraid of how he'd react to finding out I was eating one of _his _lollipops.

I sat with my legs crossed, an arm rested on one leg, my head resting in the hand of the same arm, and an extremely bored expression on my face. Those that walked by me usually gave me a weird second glance that I generally ignored since I was choosing to pay close attention to nothing in particular instead.

Well, for now I was. However, when anyone or anything cries out in any kind of distress I tend to notice. This is especially the case when it's the sound of a child crying since I seemed to have an extraordinary soft spot for children.

The soft sound of a whimpering child quickly drew my attention to a nearby swing. I blinked once and then twice, a little surprised. I wasn't surprised because I saw a crying child however; I was shocked because the boy I saw crying I had seen before. Four days prior, the day before I went to MephyLand with Chou and Amaimon, he had come into the candy shop with his mother. It was the shy, green-eyed, blonde boy who had spent the majority of his time hiding behind his mom's legs.

Only this time, his mom wasn't around for him to hide behind so he was making do with a worn-out stuffed light brown teddy bear.

From what I could see and hear, he was crying, and one glance around the park told me that the reason was more than likely due to the absence of his mother. I could sympathize; it may come as no surprise to you that growing up I often got separated from my caretakers as well.

But that is beside the point. I was physically incapable of leaving the child alone, both because he was crying and because it simply wasn't safe to leave a seven or eight year old boy alone this close to nighttime. Without any hesitation I stood up and made my way over to the boy. I didn't try to get to close to him – I knew from experience that was the best and easiest way to make them retreat. Rather, I slowly made myself visible to him, waved and gently called out to him, "Are you okay?"

His green eyes widened slightly and he buried his face into his teddy bear, as if he thought I would no longer be able to see him if he did so. Staying where I was, I smiled and spoke to him again, "I'm Kotori, I work at a candy shop; we met there, do you remember me?"

There was a moment's hesitation before he peeked out from behind his bear and he slightly nodded his head in the affirmative. My grin widened, "That makes me happy!" He sniffled a little and wiped his face as I continued, "Is your mom here?"

He shook his head.

"Are you lost?"

He nodded.

"Do you want me to help you find her?"

He shook his head.

I furrowed my eyebrows ever so slightly in disappointment, "Would you like me to wait here with you until she comes?"

There was yet another moment of hesitation during which he glanced from side to side before he cautiously nodded.

"Okay then, I can do that. What 's your name?"

"…..-chio….."

I cocked my head, quite certain I misheard him, "Chio?"

"Michio."

I bowed my head in greeting, "It's nice to meet you Michio."

He bowed his head as well and in a very small voice responded, "Nice to meet you."

There was a second of awkward silence before I finally broke it, "So how'd you get lost?" He looked at me wide-eyed and almost appeared conflicted for a second, but then he looked down in thought. It seemed to me he wasn't sure whether or not he should tell me. "It's okay, you can tell me – I get lost all the time too, so I'll understand."

He squeezed his teddy bear close to him and glanced up at me. "U-uh, my bear…it got taken and I wanted it back."

I frowned, not at the boy, but rather at the fact that someone would be so mean as to steal a little boy's teddy bear. That's like stealing candy from a baby. Awful. "That's terrible, who took it?"

He buried his face into the bear again and gave a very muffled reply, "mah mohnsteh."

"I'm sorry?"

He looked up, "a monster." I blinked a few times. A monster? I wondered about that for a few moments – did he mean an actual monster? I mean he clearly thought that whatever initially took his stuffed toy was a monster but that didn't necessarily mean it was an actual 'monster'. That being said, I couldn't deny the existence of monster like creatures.

"A monster? What did this monster look like?"

"Uh, it was round, i-it had big t-teeth, and big arms, and small legs, and a tail, a-and -AH!" He sprung forward and held onto my legs, startling me in the process and nearly knocking me over.

"What!? What is it!?" Shaking against my legs he managed to hold up one hand and point. Turning my gaze in the direction he had pointed I spotted it. Peeking out from behind some nearby bushes was a goblin. It was smaller than Behemoth and its coloration was different, it was redder than the hobgoblin I had come to know and love, but it was unmistakably a hobgoblin. I looked at the little boy, "Is that the monster who stole your bear?"

He nodded against my legs. I looked between the boy and the demon. I wondered why the demon was bullying the little boy at all; remembering my first encounter with Behemoth, I also found myself wondering whether or not the goblin had hurt the child. "Has he ever hurt you?"

Green eyes found mine as he shook his head in the negative, "he just takes my bear."

"He does this a lot?"

"Uh-huh."

I wondered about something for a moment, "How do you get it back?"

The boy paused for a moment as he thought; "He drops it after a little while." A hint of a smile graced my lips as I recalled how Behemoth generally played with me. Usually, it was some variation of the game tag, where in I spent the entire time chasing him around until I gave up and he let up on the game. This sounded very similar.

I knelt down in front of Michio, "I don't think he's trying to be mean to you."

The boy's emerald eyes glittered with an almost mysterious curiosity, "You don't?"

"Nope. I think he just wants to play with you. They like chasing games."

"…like tag?"

"Yep, like tag." The boy stared at me for a bit, his head slightly cocked to the side. I almost felt like he was judging me in some way.

"…I-I like tag…"

I winked, "me too…say do you want to play while we wait for your mom?" The little boy glanced between the demon and I like he was trying to decide whether or not it was safe.

"I-is it okay?"

I looked at the goblin still peeking awkwardly out from the bushes. Turning back to the boy I signaled for him to stay where he was – upon receiving a nod that told me he wasn't going anywhere I started to approach the goblin. As I got closer, the demon seemed to grow restless. I remained perfectly calm, and when I was a few steps away, I slowly knelt down in front of the fiend. "Hello there."

He disappeared into the bushes for a few seconds before reappearing then disappeared and reappeared again, each time the leaves rustled loudly and I had to keep from laughing. When finally he settled on not hiding in the bushes he stared awkwardly at me, "You like playing games, right?"

I chuckled a little as his tail started vibrating in excitement, "Can you be gentle?" He ran in a few circles that made me slightly dizzy while I tried to follow him before he ran up to me and gently nuzzled one of my hands. I beamed, "Awwww, you're so sweet…and strangely well-behaved…" I tilted my head in thought, "Do you have a name?" He cocked his head as if he didn't understand what I had said. "I guess not – and here I thought you might be someone's familiar."

Turning towards Michio I motioned for him to come on over. Upon seeing my smile and confirmation that he could come over, the blonde warily approached us. He eventually settled behind me, looking at the fiend from behind me. Motioning to Michio I introduced him to the goblin, "This is Michio." The demon ran in yet another happy circle, when he reseated himself in front of me I looked at Michio, "he doesn't have a name – maybe you'd like to give him one?" I turned back towards the goblin, "If that's okay with you, of course." The little fiend grinned.

* * *

"Oh come on! Why are you two so fast, darn it!" I yelled out in exasperation as I was tagged and once again given the label 'it'. Michio and the newly named 'Yuko', who according to Michio was a female hobgoblin (though I have no idea how in the world he could know that and he simply stated that 'I can tell' when I asked), were far better than I was at tag apparently. I had spent the majority of the evening being it. Furthermore, I had given up trying the tag Yuko, which made it way too obvious who I was going to chase and that much easier to get away.

By this point in the game, I was exhausted and ready to stop playing – of course, we'd only been playing for about twenty minutes so quitting now wouldn't reflect well on me. Furthermore, Michio had finally come out of his shell and I didn't want to ruin that. Not to mention, he and Yuko were getting along so splendidly that they would work together to make sure I couldn't quit. Seriously, what _is_ that?

Outsmarted by an eight year old and a goblin. Way to go me.

I took a quick breather and analyzed me surroundings, Yuko was literally running circles around me, much to my chagrin, and Michio was peeking out from behind the nearby play set, a smile plastered to his face as he giggled. When my breathing got under control, I started to take off after the boy. Unfortunately, I barely got a step forward before I was knocked to the ground by some heavy thing colliding with my back. "GYAH!" I squealed as my face met the dirt and I had the air knocked out of me.

I wondered for a fraction of a second what it was that had hit me, but when I felt the sloppy wet kisses that were so clearly Behemoth's on my cheeks, I stopped wondering. "H-hey! Behemoth!"

My hobgoblin friend crawled off of me and, in his usual manner, sat next to me with a goofy smile on his face. Mindful of my now bruised back, I succeeded at getting back to my feet without any further incident. I admittedly, flinched a little when I looked up and discovered Amaimon standing barely a foot in front of me, but soon a bright smile engulfed my face as I greeted him, "Hi, Amaimon!"

"What were you doing?"

I popped my lips, "It's nice to see you too, and yes, I've been really great." My sarcasm either flew right over his head or he simply wasn't having it because not only did he not respond, but his face remained deadpan for the entirety of my comment and indefinitely afterwards. After a grand total of three slow blinks, I finally answered his question. "I was playing tag."

His jaded expression lightened as a childish smile spread on his face. "Tag?!"

"Yes, tag. With," I gestured to the little boy, still slightly hidden behind the nearby play set, "Michio and," I pointed at the red goblin, "Yuko."

Amaimon glanced quizzically between the child and the goblin before settling his gaze inquisitively on me. He blinked a few times and at first I thought he was going to make a comment that would sound a little like: _I don't want to play with annoying human children_. To which I would probably respond with something along the lines of: _Then don't_.

Of course, he surprised me by being unusually open-minded, "I want to play!"

I stared at him, completely dumbfounded. An eternity seemed to pass, though if I'm being honest it probably wasn't even a full moment, before my brain started to work well enough to form a comprehensible sentence, which consisted of one word, "Really?"

His already present smile widened and he nodded with an unnatural amount of excitement, "Yep! I enjoy these human children games! They are very amusing."

I looked at Michio for a moment before turning back to Amaimon, "But…will you be okay playing with Michio?" After all, Michio was a _human _child. I worried that Amaimon might accidently scare him, inspire him to attempt things that might cause the boy injury, or end up being too rough with the kid. And with his mother still not here, I wanted to be sure he stayed okay.

Amaimon glanced at the blonde boy. Almost unnoticeably his brows knitted together, either in thought or confusion, or both. It could very well be and most likely was both. Eventually, he seemed to be unable to come to an understanding and turned to me for assistance, "I don't understand."

I scratched the back of my head as I tried to think through my answer and state it in a way that would make sense to him, "I guess I was just worried that you might accidently hurt him, or scare him, or something."

"I won't."

"Oh…well, okay…then…" I smiled mischievously, "in that case," with far more force than was probably necessary I tapped the green-haired demon's arm, "TAG! You're IT!"

The boy's eyes widened in surprise as the nearby goblins and I took off. I headed towards the play set, hoping that if I reach it the obstacle would provide an escape for me. The two demons, however, scattered towards the shrubbery. Fortunately, Amaimon had not decided to come after me. Unfortunately, he had decided to go after Michio.

The little boy shrieked as he ran around the play set in an attempt to get away from the quickly approaching demon king. For a moment, I was deathly afraid that I had made a mistake in allowing Amaimon to play, but one look made me realize that it wasn't a shriek of fear but of excitement. Content that the boy was okay; I turned tail and ran the other way.

I'm not so brave as to head _toward_ the tagger. Especially not when the tagger was a demon.

That's not courage; that's stupidity.

* * *

It wasn't fair. I was 'it' _again_. And I had been for far too long. "Ugh." I panted as I leaned over to rest my hands on my knees. I knew part of my problem was that I was too easily distracted, I kept switching targets which made getting away extremely easy, but the other problem was that I was playing with demons – sure Michio was human, but he was a little fiend in his own right!

"You're really bad at this game." Then there was Amaimon and his truly incredible ability to state the completely obvious. Too tired to attempt to yell anything back at him I settled with simply sticking my tongue out.

Honestly, isn't there a mercy rule or something?

"_Demon, over here towards the sound of clapping…"_

"STOP THAT!" I finally yelled at the green-haired boy who had turned his back towards me and started clapping. Fully irritated, I charged forward trying desperately to tag the demon.

"Ah! It worked!" He laughed as he continued to escape me with relative ease. His comment would probably of made me blush considering the truth of his words – I had, in fact, come when called – but I was already so red in the face from physical exertion, I don't think I could grow any redder.

In my frustration, I managed a pretty pathetic comeback, "that's –_ugh – _not even – _agh _ – the real – _huff _– song!"

He stopped running for a split second and watched me with surprised eyes, "It isn't?"

"NO!"

He scowled a little but quickly moved on and resumed his unrealistically quick retreat. I was just about ready to raise the white flag, which was something I had been trying to avoid in a last ditch effort to save whatever pieces were left of my pride, when someone did it for me.

"Michio!" A woman's voice rang out across the park and I immediately stopped running. I turned on my heels towards the source of the voice and found none other than the same woman who had come into the candy shop with Michio just a few days ago. In other words, his mother.

"M-MOMMA!" The little boy ran forward, albeit it a little ungracefully, and met his mother halfway, leaping into her worried but caring arms. I smiled fondly at the sweet scene and glanced at Amaimon. He seemed extremely unimpressed; I wouldn't have expected anything different though, and in response, I rolled my eyes.

I gave myself a moment to start breathing normally again and then I approached the woman, "Um…hi. I take it you're his mom?" She looked up at me, eyes full of the relieved tears you'd only ever see in the eyes of a mother who'd just found their child safe and sound.

"Yes, I am."

I grinned, "Ah, in that case, I'll leave him with you. I'm glad you two found each other."

"Thank you." With a nod, I turned to leave, but before I could take even a single step another smaller voice stopped me.

"W-wait!" I looked back at Michio, a smile and question painted on my face.

"Yes?"

Separating from his mother's hug he shyly walked over to me. There was a span of time during which he stared awkwardly at the ground and I stared self-consciously at him and his mother, until finally he held out his teddy bear. "H-here."

I blinked.

"I-I want to thank you, so y-you can have him. J-Just take good care of him."

I blinked again, and finally I smiled. "Thank you, Michio – but are you sure you want to give me that?"

His eyebrows came together in a determined scowl as he responded enthusiastically and pushed the bear into my hands, "YES!"

Gently, I took hold of the little furry toy, "then thank you." Upon accepting his gift, he smiled brightly and his eyes sparkled with victory. "We should hang out again, _all_ of us," I nodded towards Yuko, "okay?"

He nodded, "Uh-huh!" As out interaction came to a close his mother came up behind him and took the boy's hand so that she could guide him home but stopped momentarily to once again offer me her thanks. As per usual, my response was a simple 'it was nothing' and I waved while I watched them leave.

"Sweet kid." I murmured to myself. Turning around, with my new gift in hand I faced Amaimon. He had crept up on me and I instinctually recoiled and yelped due to the sheer proximity between him and I. His jaded eyes, I noticed, were focused entirely on the stuffed animal I now carried in my arms. I also detected a slight frown, which I quickly attributed to the fact he hadn't been given anything.

Glancing behind him, I saw Behemoth sitting calmly on the grass a few feet away but could not find Yuko. I scanned the immediate area and discovered that at some point during the time I had my back turned, Yuko had disappeared. "Where'd Yuko go?"

"Hmm? Oh, right. The goblin left when the boy did."

I pursed my lips, a little disappointed, "Oh…" then I set my sight on the very near Amaimon and the corners of my lips turned upwards. "_Kagome kagome the bird in the basket when,_" the teenage demon tilted his head in utter confusion as I sang the children's song, clearly not quite recognizing it yet,"_oh when will it come out in the night of dawn the crane and turtle slipped who is behind you now?_" Once the song was over, I smacked his arm, "TAG! You're it! AGAIN!" Then I took off.

I didn't get far admittedly; after all, Amaimon was far faster than I was. That being said, while I wasn't expecting to get far anyway, I was still very startled when he caught me. Not because he tagged me, but rather because of _how _he tagged me. He jumped on me. He literally jumped on me – in a very similar manner to how Behemoth tackles me every time we are reunited. I squealed as I was thrown headlong towards the ground and barely had time to throw my free hand forward in an attempt to save my face. When at last I had landed I found that I was very well pinned, face down, to the ground by a heavy object. That object being the green-haired trickster above me.

His taunting voice rang out above me an instant later. "Tag, you're it."

"Oh, come _on_!" I squirmed, pounding my fists against the ground and kicking aimlessly, hoping this would inspire Amaimon to get off of me. He didn't budge.

Instead he blinked a few times and gave me a lackluster stare, "Give up – you're not any good at this game."

I was too stubborn for my own good. I didn't like giving up anyway, but I _especially_ didn't like giving up when someone told me to. "_NEVER! _I will be victorious!"

"You can't beat me. I'm better than you."

Still squirming, I gasped in insulted horror, "Says who!?"

"Me." He said it with a strange enthusiasm that really didn't match the lifeless expression on his face, and that combined with the honesty of the response left me somewhat speechless.

"Ugh."

* * *

_~One Week Later – Back in the Bedroom~_

"_**Saying 'I'm sorry' is saying 'I love you' with a wounded heart in one hand and your smothered pride in the other."**_

― _**Richelle E. Goodrich**_

* * *

A giggle left my lips as I picked the teddy bear up off the bed; it was such a delightful reminder of an equally delightful day. Despite all my complaining while I was 'it' and even if I was completely awful at the game, I had had a great time running around playing tag.

Glancing into the glossy button eyes of the worn-out toy I caught the fuzzy image of my reflection. Staring at myself, I was suddenly hit with an overwhelming feeling of guilt and my faint smile fell away. I knew I shouldn't have snapped at him the way I had, and admitting to that wasn't admitting weakness or even admitting that he had been entirely right within the context of the situation.

If it was anything, it was admitting that I thought our friendship was more important than a ceramic bowl and some cereal and milk.

With the bear in one hand and the other held out in front of me while I analyzed the many crimson superficial cuts, I sighed and sat down on my bed. I'd have to clean those up eventually. I couldn't just leave them be because even the most trivial injuries can grow serious if they're left to fester long enough.

It was the same for relationships.

I clenched my fist in newfound determination and immediately regretted doing so, "Ow!" It was a dumb thing to do considering my hand was still covered in small wounds. I shook my hand in an attempt to shake the stinging pain away while I sat the bear back down on the bed and stood up. Then, I glared at the door. I was definitely going to go out there and I was definitely going to apologize.

As I approached the door, I had to keep from chuckling because of the sound of someone or something retreating away from it. If I had to venture a guess, I'd suspect Behemoth had been pouting on the other side. Resting my hand on the doorknob, I turned it and pushed the wooden barricade open just enough to peek out into the hallway. By then, it was completely empty and the only sounds in the entire apartment were the sounds of someone messing around in the living room.

Stepping outside of my room, I slowly continued down the hallway and peeked into the occupied space. Amaimon and Behemoth were either wrestling or cuddling – I couldn't really be sure which. But when they noticed me standing there they stopped. Behemoth smiled at me. Amaimon glared.

I visibly flinched when met with the demon king's narrowed eyes, but despite the fact it was certainly intimidating, I remained steadfast. "Um…hello." I awkwardly shuffled in place as I tried to think up the best way to start my apology. Perhaps, I should have done that before I left the bedroom but I hadn't. I wanted to smack myself. Uncomfortable seconds flew by before I finally achieved _something_. That being said, it wasn't much since I didn't actually say anything at least not immediately – though I still think it was both an effective and important part in asking for forgiveness.

Covering the distance between us before I could chicken out, I got as close as I felt was appropriate and joined him on the floor. Except unlike him, who was sitting 'Indian-Style', I sat on my knees. Then I bowed. My face turned bright red as I did so, and I wished I could see his face before I said anything but in my current position I couldn't and would simply have to make do with a view of the floor.

Gathering up the rest of my courage I finally spoke, "I'm sorry." After the words left my mouth I sat up straight and looked him in the eyes. "I shouldn't have snapped at you and stormed out like I did. It was very rude of me and I could have handled the situation much better. I let my emotions get the best of my judgment and that reflected on my behavior. Please forgive me?" Considering the rate my heart was beating and how nervous I was, I was actually quite pleased with how my apology had come out. Now I just had to hope and pray that Amaimon was in a forgiving mood.

He stared me down, as if he was trying the gage the extent of my guilt. Having his eyes on me like that and in this situation, admittedly, made me astronomically more nervous than I already was and as a result I could feel my cheeks slowly warm.

I wanted to avert or close my eyes at one point, but I refused to allow myself to do so. I wished he'd just say yes I forgive you or no I don't. Waiting was killing me, slowly, painfully.

Until finally, "Okay." I blinked. That was it? Just 'okay'? I wasn't sure if I was disappointed that was all he had to say, or happy, or shocked, _or_ annoyed. I had kind of been expecting him to ask for candy in return, or give me a hard time about earning his forgiveness. And I admittedly had hoped he'd, just maybe, apologize for giving me a difficult time in the kitchen. Though it doesn't surprise me that he didn't do the latter, I am very stunned that he didn't do the former.

"Really?"

"Yep." A slight smile danced on my lips but it soon grew both in size and brilliance. Until, that is, it was wiped away by the memory of the mess in the kitchen that I now had to clean up.

But before that, I nonchalantly crawled my way over to the teenager and situated myself side-by-side to him. He watched me suspiciously – yet still somehow bored – as I did so but did not attempt to retreat. Not that I thought he would, my experience told me he didn't have much awareness for personal space, at least, not when it came to me. I met his gaze and beamed before using my shoulder to affectionately nudge his, "I'm glad."

Then I stood up and made my way to the mess in the kitchen. I noticed the two demons follow after me, but they often did that so I paid no mind to it. That is until I rounded the corner.

I froze in the doorway for an indefinite amount of the time as the cogs in my brain struggled to turn and make sense of what was not in my kitchen and what was.

The mess was gone. It had been completely cleaned up. And sitting on the counter was another bowl of cereal. I rubbed my eyes, convinced I was seeing an image of what I wished was reality as opposed to what actually was. But even after trying to, I could not rub away the image in front of me. Cautiously I stepped forward. It wasn't my imagination. Somehow my kitchen got clean while I was in my bedroom and I had a pretty good idea how. But, just to be sure – I checked my candy pantry. Empty.

"Amaimon…" I glanced at the demon king; he was standing, bored, and totally ignoring me in the doorway. For a moment I wondered if I should thank him for cleaning the mess up and pouring me more cereal, or reprimand him for eating my _entire_ stash of candy. He was like a double-edged sword.

I suppose I could just laugh, because if I'm being honest I found the entire situation both completely endearing and totally hysterical.

As it would happen, I did laugh. It was just a muffled fit of giggles that I struggled to keep contained but it was a laugh nonetheless. Amaimon turned towards me then, lifeless eyes staring me down – daring me to keep laughing.

"What's so funny?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose in an attempt to silence my chuckles, "Oh, it's nothing."

He blinked, and his eyes narrowed a fraction of an inch before he eventually shrugged away his current curiosity and adopted a new one. "Are you going to eat that?" he gestured to the bowl of cereal.

I glanced at it, "Yes."

"It smells sweet."

I raised an eyebrow, curious as to where this conversation was headed, "It is very sweet."

He stared at it for a moment. "I want to try it."

Trying to stop myself from laughing yet again, I snorted; he was going to eat every sweet thing in my house, "Would you like me to pour you a bowl?" But I didn't really mind it all that much. At least, he would be eating something a little healthier than a lollipop.

"…Yes."

I turned around and opened the cabinet where I kept all the bowls, "Okay, I can do that."

* * *

_~Fin~_

"_**Build your life on your dreams; because dreams never have bad endings."**_

_**~ M.F. Moonzajer**_

* * *

So in case you're wondering about that kid's song: In the episode entitled "A Game of Tag" Amaimon sings a song (as I'm sure most of you all know) that goes "Demon, over here towards the sound of clapping." This is a reference to a Japanese children's game very similar to tag called Kagome Kagome. The song that Kotori sings is the actual song from the game – in English. Below is the same song written using the Japanese Characters and Romaji:

"かごめかごめ 籠の中の鳥はいついつ出やる夜明けの晩に鶴と亀が滑った後ろの正面だあれ."

"_Kagome kagome kago no naka no tori wa__itsu itsu deyaru yoake no ban ni suru to kame ga subetta ushiro no shoumen daare._"

Also: I will give a cyber high five to anyone who can correctly guess why I named this chapter Monsters in the Closet. If you can't...well...sorry.

Lastly: Again, I apologize for any occasion that any character seems OOC. *bows* Thanks again for reading! And if you feel like it; please review!


	7. Flower Garden

A special thanks to (you know who you are) for helping me get through this chapter! I couldn't have done it without you!

As per always, lightly edited.

I do not own Blue Exorcist.

"_**My brain is divided into two butterflies, and both are in love with your rose-shaped heart. If you've got the garden, I've got my whole life."**_

_**~ Jarod Kintz**_

**Flower Garden**

For as long as I can remember, I've always loved flowers. I thought them beautiful, amazing, peculiar, and confounding. How could such a wonderful, colorful, and perfumed thing arise from a little seed and dirt, basically nothing? Why did they so often bring joy to people? Why would we leave such simple things on graves as tokens of memories we will never forget – especially when flowers themselves don't last forever? What made a flower so special that they could serve as symbols of our passions – when they themselves are so fleeting? And why do I love them? I've often wondered these things.

I never really asked anyone, rather I preferred to spend time musing to myself. It never seemed an appropriate time to ask anyone. Or I worried I would seem exceedingly strange if I did. Plus, whom would I ask anyway? Who would really know the answer?

Whatever my thoughts, I always had one desire. I wanted a flower garden. Many times in my life I had tried to raise a few potted plants, but I always found that the color of my thumbs was a charcoal black and without fail, my small garden died.

Over and over again, I planted seed after seed, but never once did I see a single bloom.

It was disheartening. I didn't know the reason they consistently died; I thought I had done well tending to them. I showed them care and love, I remember once I even tried singing to them like I had seen in a movie. Yet, always they wilted and faded long before they reached maturity.

Until finally I gave up.

From afar, I would gaze enviously at the beautiful gardens others could grow and would get to leave behind when they're gone, and I'd often walk to the park and admire the diverse florae there. But never did I ever have a flower garden of my own.

I remember once, my mother told me there were many different kinds of flowers though. Some don't look like flowers and can't be admired in the same way, let's say, a rose could. But she told me that those flowers are the most valuable and longest lasting.

I'd like to grow a garden of flowers like that one day.

Though, I'm not sure where I can find seeds for such a flower, and she never told me the name since she's so fond of riddles and secrets, but I'll figure it out one day and that's the garden I'll leave behind.

For now, however, I'll simply continue to admire the gardens in front of me – even though they aren't mine.

Kneeling before the greenery, my hand carefully brushed the little blue Iris that stood tall amongst its companions. I didn't want to risk accidently tapping my black thumb against its petals, lest I kill the striking thing.

Of course, as I gently pulled away from the flower with a content and gentle smile it was promptly knocked to the ground and trampled on. I squeaked in surprised shock and drooped my head as a result of the depressing occurrence I had just witnessed. Then with a sad sigh, but without raising my head, I waved a greeting to the demon in front of me.

"Hi Behemoth."

Actually, this greeting wasn't a result of meeting him at the normal exchange place at the park. Now that I was visited by the two demons basically every day, that entire custody agreement had all but been forgotten. I didn't even bother bringing Amaimon cherry flavored lollipops anymore since he usually just raided my candy pantry (although I still occasionally have a few on me, but not necessarily for him – I also like them). Rather, this particular greeting was a result of him having disappeared for about an hour while we were in a nearby public garden.

I had searched for the hobgoblin for a good forty-five minutes before giving up and assuming he'd return when he felt like it.

Clearly, I was right.

Or at least I had thought I'd be right. But when I did look up, I was quite surprised to see a hobgoblin that was _not _Behemoth sitting in front of me. I blink once, twice, and three times while the unknown goblin stared at me. Then, though delayed, he roared in my face. I was close enough that the fiend's spit landed on my cheek as it roared, and as a result I squealed in surprise and proceeded to crawl a safe distance away before turning back to look at the creature.

I couldn't understand why in the world it would feel it was necessary to do that, or ruin a perfectly good flowerbed for that matter (as it was still stomping around in the florae). I stared at the beast, gauging whether or not I could run away safely when suddenly I had a startling realization.

I had **seen **this goblin before.

Though for the life of me, I couldn't put my finger on where I had seen it. But I knew it looked familiar. I also realized it was snickering while it leered at me. Rude much? "Now _**you**_, don't laugh at people after you scare them. It's mean!"

The familiar red goblin stopped laughing, rather it stopped smiling all together and growled at me. Admittedly, I was slightly unnerved by the rather bipolar behavior the beast was demonstrating and I shuffled backwards ever so slightly in response to the clear threat. However, once again the little demon resumed its goofy sounding giggles.

Okay, now I was getting irritated.

On another note, where _was _Behemoth when I needed him? I bet this goblin, whoever it was, wouldn't be so unpleasant if Behemoth were here. Knowing him, he'd show up with Amaimon sometime later…

That's the usual sequence of events. He leaves for a little while, and then returns in the company of the Demon King.

Of course, that's also not of much importance at this very moment. _Especially_ **not** at this very moment. At _this_ very moment, I should probably consider running or at least doing something akin to defending myself since the hobgoblin was now charging at me.

My reaction was rather delayed and as a result I didn't have time to get to my feet and run away, but I did managed to raise my arms and shield the main part of my body (or at least the part with vital organs) from the oncoming demon, all the while squealing in hopes someone was nearby or my scream would somehow deter the beast.

I felt the creature collide with me, but fortunately, except for the bruises I'd get from the initial collision, I was totally unscathed. But at the same time, I felt the purse on my shoulder slide off as the little demon made off with it. I tried to grab it before it got out of reach, knowing full well from past experiences with Behemoth there was no way I'd catch the creature if he got away, but alas, my bag quite literally slipped through my fingers.

"Hey!" I called after the beast as I scrambled to my feet. Knowing I'd probably not catch the hobgoblin wasn't reason enough not to try to, so the moment my feet were firmly established on the ground I took off after the creature.

What would follow would be a chaotic mess of tripping over my own feet, crashing into shrubbery, leaping forward, jumping over flowerbeds (which the goblin generally just barreled right through), always missing my target when I'd get close enough to reach for my bag, and barely making it around the many sharp turns of the garden as I trailed after the speedy thing.

This was ridiculous, and I failed to understand why I recently always seem to be chasing some supernatural creature around. And as sweat began to form on my forehead, annoyed mutterings began to leak from my lips between my desperate gasps for air.

By this point, I was fairly certain my hair, which had been a rather neat ponytail before this entire fiasco, was a total bird's nest complete with twigs, grass, and leaves. And let's not even talk about the state of my jeans and shirt, which both had bits of dirt and grass everywhere. Man, when I got my hands on that little red demon, I'd pummel him. Of course, at the rate I was going I was more likely to inadvertently pummel myself simply by trying to keep up with the hobgoblin.

"Ack!" Yet another yelp of surprise and discomfort as my foot caught on a slight obstruction and I fell forward, landing, this time, in a flowerbed I had been attempting to jump over and subsequently crushing the flowers that grew there. I sat up slightly, "Ah! No! I'm so sorry! _Please_ be okay!"

Quickly, I sat fully up and made a rather sad and pathetic attempt at lifting the irreparable greenery up in hopes it might recover, but unsurprisingly my attempts at fixing the damage was pointless.

With a vengeful glean in my eye; I set my sights on the crimson hobgoblin in front of me. It stood three paces away and stared me down, clearly amused and daring me to give up the chase and admit defeat. "_**You!**_" I roared as I pounced forward, landing on my hands and knees once again in the process. I didn't even come close to catching my target as it leapt out of the way long before I got there and took off around yet another corner. But I wasn't planning on letting it get away that easily. Rather, I wasn't planning on letting it get away at all. By golly, I was going to catch that little bastard if it was the last thing I did.

Well, that's not entirely true; I'd likely give up before it reached the point where it would _actually _be the last thing I did. I wasn't that stupid, although, I have often been told that I don't pay enough attention to my surroundings or myself so the possibility that it could, in fact, be the last thing I do wasn't totally ridiculous. Just partly.

Nevertheless, whilst ignoring the throb of my foot and the sting of my knees, vainly brushing off the grass stains, and promising my fallen floral friend vengeance, I stood to my feet once more.

My eyes set sternly on the path the beast took only moments earlier. I should probably try and be smart about this because I knew I could outrun it, but maybe I could try and cut him off somewhere. Of course, that required a spatial sense that I likely did not possess. I didn't have this park memorized. And I wasn't entirely sure where the paths lead, so the chance I could successfully cut the demon off was not very high.

No, unfortunately I found myself recklessly running after the fiend once more as opposed to taking the wiser road. It wasn't that I wanted to, but rather it was that I knew if I didn't start after him again soon I'd lose all sight of him and never get my bag back.

And it was imperative I get that bag back. It had my house key, my phone, my ID, my money, and the cherry flavored lollipops I kept on me at all times (recently at least).

I get told this often, but I probably should consider paying more attention to my surroundings. Especially, noise. Why noise of all things? Well, noise can often forewarn you to impending collisions when rounding a blind corner.

As I turned said blind corner I lost almost no speed, and initially I thought that a good thing – I figured the less speed I lost the more likely I was to catch up to the thief. Unfortunately, it didn't help much at all. If anything it made the entire resulting ordeal worse. It would be my luck that around this corner was a person. A comparatively large, and somewhat intimidating person, who was also running at full speed towards the very same corner.

We cried our shock simultaneously, "GAH!" I tried, unsuccessfully, to dig my heels into the ground and come to a halt, but even though I had managed to stop my feet, the rest of my body had other plans and I ended up crashing headlong into the boy.

**CRASH!**

* * *

"_**At this point I think we need to embrace the weird. High-five it. Give it our phone number."**_

_**~ Jim Zub, Wayward, Vol. 1: String Theory**_

* * *

"Ow…" I cringed while I rubbed my nose with one hand and my lower back with the other.

"Che…That really hurt, damn it." My eyes flitted forward, toward the sound of the deeper voice only to lay eyes on the young man I had run into. Perhaps a little too quickly I grew quite nervous and noticeably concerned for my future well being.

He looked uncannily like a delinquent. He had a blonde mohawk, offset by brown hair, a rather large build, and a very unapproachable air. With a twitch and blink, I swallowed the growing lump in my throat as he turned to look at me. He was frowning deeply while also rubbing the sore parts of his body and when he opened his mouth to speak I cringed with slight fear and in preparation for what was sure to be a violent, delinquent-worthy reprimand. "Hey. You ok?" He spoke with such a stern and almost harsh tone that I was left momentarily confused by whether he was concerned for me or not.

"Uh…um…"

As I stuttered for a response two more boys came up behind him, a shorter one with a buzz cut and glasses and a boy with bright pink hair and a somewhat lazy smile.

The shorter boy ran up to the delinquent, "Bon! Are you alright?"

"Huh…oh yeah. I'm fine." He replied as he climbed to his feet. I paused in thought for a very short moment while I considered the idea that the delinquent was likely named Bon, though the sinking suspicion that it might be a nickname was there. I blinked once more and before I knew it there was a much too friendly smile and a hand being extended towards me, both of which belonged to the boy with the bright pink hair.

"I hope you aren't hurt." He spoke brightly while continuing to offer his hand to me, and the combination of his care-free smile and kind words led me to drop my guard and take his hand, "If you'd like, I'd be _happy_ to _thoroughly_ check you over for injuries!" Of course, then he kept talking and his dubious phrasing sent a shiver crawling down my spine as I snatched my hand away and stood to my feet without his assistance.

"Err…no thanks. I'm fine." He awkwardly rubbed the back of his head and laughed nervously.

"That came out wrong…"

I smiled uncomfortably at him, "Did it?"

The short one with glasses soon came up behind the taller boy, "Renzo…you really shouldn't say things like that."

"I was just expressing concern for this nice…" Phasing the conversation out of conscious thought, I slowly began backing away, all too ready to make my escape and catch up to that almost forgotten thief from earlier.

"Hey! Where are you sneaking off to?" I flinched and flushed when the delinquent, earlier referred to as Bon, reprimanded me for trying to 'sneak off'. Mainly, because that was, in fact, what I was _trying_ to do and there was nothing quite as embarrassing as being so terribly _overt_ that you're caught while trying to be _covert_. Plus, he's big and scary.

"Uh…"

"Don't you know, it's rude to run away before apologizing for running into someone?" He scowled at me as he spoke clearly annoyed by my admittedly rude behavior; yet somehow, even though his face was such that it should have been terrifying, the feeling that was coursing through my veins was not fear. Rather it was a besetting irritation.

"…Well, I am sorry." I spoke sincerely, despite the fact the words had basically wriggled their way through my clenched teeth, "Are you alright."

"I'm fine. But what kind of idiot runs around in a flower garden in the first place?"

"_Excuse _me?" Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. "Why don't you tell me? After all, you're clearly just as much an idiot as I am."

The speed that this boy went from mildly intimidating but calm to terrifying and enraged as he fumed from the insult was truly quite remarkable, and I might have been tempted to giggle if I wasn't stewing myself, "Who you calling an idiot!?"

I didn't miss a beat as I indignantly maneuvered my hands to my hips and responded, "_**You**_."

"You…" The boy's nostrils flared and his eyes narrowed while his body momentarily tensed before the coming pyre. Then when finally he released his rage he did so in an eruption of fury that was somehow stained with the pain of a past I couldn't possible know, "Don't you **dare **look down on me!"

How he had managed to make the leap from my being angry at being called an idiot and spitefully firing back to my thinking myself better than him and snootily looking down on him I wasn't entirely sure, but I was quick to correct his thinking. "How could I be looking down on you?" I asked incredulously, while waving my hands in a motion meant to depict the absurdity of the question. "I know nothing _about _you. I'm _angry_ with you for insulting me. So I'm insulting you back. But I am **not** looking down on you."

After I finished my tirade, he stopped for a moment; it was almost like he was processing my words. Well, not almost. I'm fairly certain he was processing my words. After a few seconds his expression lost its earlier ire, though the ingrained intimidation couldn't fade, and he grumbled.

The short boy with glasses, who had been approaching during mine and the angry boy's entire exchange, smiled a little. "I think we might all be at fault in some way."

"Eh? I didn't _do_ anything. I don't even _want_ to be here." I glanced skeptically at the pink-haired boy; feeling like the only one here that _hadn't _done anything questionable was the short boy trying to make peace – not the one with questionable intent.

"In your case, it's not what you've _done_ at fault, but what you've _thought_." In an attempt not to laugh at what the shorter boy said, I snorted. Immediately after, my hands flew to my mouth as I tried to hide my slip up, but alas, by then, it was too late. Although, one could hardly blame me for finding his statement humorous, after all, he had said basically what I was thinking.

The pink haired boy listlessly rubbed the back of his head and glanced back at me, "Anyway…" he began, clearly attempting to change the subject, "I don't think we caught your name. I'm Renzo Shima, you can call me Renzo."

"And I'm Konekomaru Miwa," the shorter boy quickly followed, then motioning towards the angry delinquent, "and this is Ryuji Suguro – we call him Bon."

So it was a nickname after all. Cordially, I allowed a well-mannered smile to light my face as I greeted them, "It's nice to meet you all; again, I apologize for the part I played in the earlier commotion. I'm Kotori Ueda." My smile faltered, however, as I remembered that I didn't really have time to be dillydallying here if I ever wanted to see my purse again. "But, um...if you could excuse me, I really need to go find someone. Actually, that's why I was running around."

The pink haired boy, Renzo, looked unusually devastated as I spoke, but before he could get a word in Bon spoke up, "Whatever, we should be on our own way anyways."

Konekomaru nodded, "That's true. Well, it was nice to meet you again Ms. Ueda."

I grimaced. _Ms. _Ueda? That made me feel like an old lady, "Just Kotori is fine."

With little to no hesitation, Renzo had sidled up to me and queried all too flirtatiously, "Then until we meet again, _Kotori_?"

"On second thought," I quipped, "Ms. Ueda works too."

Renzo looked as if I had stabbed him straight through the heart and seemed as though he was about to say something else, however, he was interrupted by loud rustling, some growling and a red monster carrying a purse I most certainly recognized jumping out of the bushes, promptly knocking him to the ground, and taking off again.

For a moment, everyone stood stunned – with the exception of Renzo who lay on the ground groaning in pain – but soon all hell broke loose. "Hey! YOU! Get back here with my purse!" I screamed after the hobgoblin.

Simultaneously, Bon yelled out, "There it is! Don't let it get away!"

"Yeah!" Konekomaru affirmed.

"Huh?" I paused and regarded them quizzically.

Bon met my questioning gaze with one of his own, "Wait…what?"

Then Konekomaru too turned his eyes to me, "You mean…?"

Realization struck all three of us as we stared at each other and simultaneously revealed what we all now knew, "You (guys) can _see_ it!?"

Still on the ground, Renzo moaned, "Ugh~ it hurts…" but he was basically ignored.

"Of course _we_ can see it! How can _you_ see it?" The delinquent-like boy, Bon, basically shouted at me.

And of course, I shouted right back, though I wasn't entirely sure why anyone was shouting, "I've _always _been able to see stuff like that! And what about you! What do you mean 'of course we can'?" My question would go unanswered, however, as coarse snickers rudely interrupted the chaotic moment and therefore our conversation. These were the kind of snickers I could easily identify as belonging to some species of goblin, and immediately I snapped to attention. I wasn't the only one, all four of us (yes, that includes the pink haired boy) set our sights on the source of the sound and when we did, we found ourselves staring down the hobgoblin that had caused this entire commotion.

And, yes, it _still _had my purse.

Peeved, I picked up my foot, ready to rush forward and tackle it. Unfortunately, I was not destined to do any successful tackling today as I was instead knocked to the ground. I had heard the rustling behind me and did turn to look at its source, but I was too slow and didn't see the quickly approaching figure before it was too late to dodge it. I did manage to release a measly, "Eh!?" though.

"Huh? Oh sh-!"

**SLAM! **

Admittedly, the initial collision hurt since the boy's shoulder had crashed clumsily into mine and caused it and the rest of by body to twist at a decidedly uncomfortable angle. Moreover, I tumbled backwards in a highly awkward way and with a surprising degree of force, which was aided by the weight of the boy who had come flying out of the bushes. Even if I had been thinking straight, I really don't think I would have been able to catch myself.

As it were. I didn't. And the last things I heard was a snarl, a couple of shocked gasps, and a decisive crack that echoed through my skull as a shooting pain shot through the back of my head and everything went black.

* * *

"_**What we do see depends mainly on what we look for. ... In the same field the farmer will notice the crop, the geologists the fossils, botanists the flowers, artists the coloring, sportsmen the cover for the game. Though we may all look at the same things, it does not all follow that we should see them."**_

_**~ John Lubbock**_

* * *

In the distance I could hear something. It was muffled, whatever it was, but it was a strange sound. Natural, yet manufactured. It kept resounding over and over again, but not in equal intervals; sometimes it sounded again immediately, while occasionally a few seconds would go by before I could hear it again.

Light filtered into my dark vision, first as needlepoint then as a flash that covered my entire vision. I realized at this point that there was an omnipresent compressing yet still dull ache in my skull. The noise seemed to grow closer and began to sound less and less muted as my awareness grew clear. Soon the light began dissipating and I was able to discern the outline of unfocused colorless figures. All the while, the sound that I could not identify became recognizable as a voice, though for the moment, I was not lucid enough to tell you what they were saying.

It also would be the case that the pervasive _dull _ache became a sharp throbbing that honestly made me think my brain was being crushed by my shrinking skull.

In hopes I could alleviate the pressure and therefore the pain, I tried to move, but I found that either I couldn't sense that I was moving or I wasn't actually moving; strangely, I didn't feel panicked. Yet. The heaviness that blanketed me only seemed to suppress such things as emotions and my self-awareness.

For that moment at least. Another second would go by and the fuzzy outlines would come into focus and fill in and finally the voice and words would begin to make sense to me.

"Miss?...Hey, miss? Are you okay?...Miss?" My eyes moved slowly towards the source of the voice. That motion alone seemed to take an overwhelming amount of energy. Nonetheless, I still tried to marshal what energy I did have into a response. At that point, I realized once again that I didn't have proper control of my physiological capabilities.

This time panic _did_ set in, and it was made more awful by the sudden realization that I was lying on my back and I could not remember why I was doing so or how I had gotten in this position. But despite my panic, I still couldn't move or at least not enough to make an impact – I could sort of move my head but the required effort to do so was unrealistically astronomical. Which made the panic worse and made my heart rate completely erratic.

"Miss? Can you hear me? Do you know where you are?"

My eyes flickered towards the voice. It wasn't too hard to find it as the source hovered above me, along with another figure. As my eyes refocused I became able to discern their appearances – two boys. Both with blue eyes, though of slightly different shades. One had brown hair and glasses as well as a few moles dotting his face and the other was a vaguely familiar boy with bluish black messy hair. Though they were hugely different from one another, they seemed rather similar too.

A panicked voice emerged from one of them – the latter boy with the dark hair. "Oh man, I'm so sorry. I really didn't mean to!" In a usual situation I might have been able to make deductions from that statement, but as for the moment my cognitive processes weren't at full faculty and any thoughts that may have arisen were smothered by the pressure and pounding in my head. Nonetheless, despite lacking a full understanding of the situation at hand and despite not knowing who they were, simply hearing their sympathetic voices soothed my panic.

"Rin, give her some space."

"Oh, right."

"Excuse me miss, can you speak?" The boy with glasses asked. Experimentally, I moved my mouth and tongue and shoved air through my vocal tract in a pathetic whimpering 'yes' that ended up sounding a lot more like an incomprehensible moan than a word, which was shortly followed by a shooting pain in the back of my head and a stronger throb throughout my skull.

His questions continued, "Can you tell me your name?"

Again I forced words through my lips, "Kotori." I probably could have given him my full name, but that took too much effort. That being said, the weight that had been making my body feel so heavy and impossible to move was starting to lift and I found that, despite my splitting headache, talking and even moving was starting to get easier.

"Okay, Kotori. Do you remember where you are?"

I tried to nod but instantly regretted it, as even the slightest movement of my head made the ache worse. Wincing, I managed to respond with a "Mmhmm."

"Can you tell me?"

Seriously? I wish he'd just stop asking me all these questions, "the flower gardens." Despite my internal complaint I still responded. I also tested my motor functions. I felt heavy and lethargic but I think I could sit up if I tried. So I tried.

Unfortunately, while I could awkwardly lift my torso and legs, my head was too heavy for my neck to lift, and even if that weren't the case the shooting pain kept me from want to move it. After failing in my attempt I collapsed back to the ground, except the collision I was expecting didn't occur due to two pairs of hands that took firm grip of my arms. "Rin, cradle her head and help her up. Be careful not to press against the back too much."

"Got it." Immediately, I felt one pair of hand move to support my head while the other pair helped sit me up.

Even after I managed to sit upright, neither pair of hands moved from their position, for which I was grateful, as I was still a little unsteady as a result of weakness and my pulsing head. Although, now that I was moving around, I found my strength starting to return at an even faster rate than before. I looked at the two boys and murmured, "Thank you." I was happy to hear that my speaking ability had returned in its former glory and my speech no longer sounded like a series of ghastly moans.

"How are you feeling?" The brown haired boy questioned me.

"My head hurts and I feel a little weak but I think I'm okay."

The other boy came around from behind me, without releasing my head however, and dramatically bowed his head, "I'm so sorry! I swear I didn't mean to!" I looked at the dark haired boy and furrowed my brows in subtle confusion. I was having a hard time recalling what had happened so I couldn't really remember what he'd done. The last thing I remembered was talking to Bon, Konekomaru, and Renzo about being able to see demons and then hearing the hobgoblin's snickers. After that, I couldn't really remember anything. However, I assumed this boy probably had something to do with my present situation and it was obvious he was authentically apologizing so I smiled.

"It's fine. I'm sure it was an accident." He looked up at me and smiled. When he did, my eyes widened. I _knew_ this boy. I had met him before. What was his name? Okimaru? Okimura? Okumura That's it. "Rin Okumura!" I declared. He looked a little surprised for a moment but as he stared at my face – and then quite obviously at my hair - his face lit up.

"Kotiro Uda!"

"Kotori Ueda."

He froze and stared at me for a millisecond before drooping in disappointment and shame. "Oh." As for myself, I giggled. I didn't blame him for forgetting my name (even if I had just said the first part of it a few moment ago). After all, we had only met once.

"You two know each other?" Not to be forgotten, the other boy, who I still think seemed a little similar to Rin in some form though I couldn't put my finger on why that was, questioned us.

Rin brightened up fairly quickly and replied, "Yep! We met a while ago."

"We ran into each other, literally." I finished the answer.

"I guess he didn't learn to be more careful the first time." I frowned at the unnamed boy's remark. _The first time_? Had he done it again? That _would_ explain how I ended up on the ground and why Rin had been apologizing to me. "Why doesn't that surprise me?"

Rin pouted in a rather guilty manner, and looked quite adorable doing it I will admit, after the other boy spoke. "I do pay attention."

"Clearly not." Sitting between them soon became an awkward experience, since I was quite literally situated right in the middle of what quickly became a session of bickering between the two boys. The boy with glasses reminded me of an older brother strictly reprimanding his younger brother, while Rin acted a lot like the guilty brother who didn't really want to admit to being guilty.

After a moment that was much too long, I cleared my throat and reminded them I was there. They turned their attention back to me; Rin embarrassedly rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand, while the other boy smiled coolly at me and apologized.

"Do you think you can sit up on your own now?" As a response to his question I gave the brown haired boy a tentative nod and he and Rin slowly released me. I was quite happy and proud to see that I could in fact hold myself up and a smile crept onto my face as a result. "I'm glad to see you are feeling better, Kotori."

"Me too!" Rin added.

I looked up at the nameless boy and finally inquired, "I don't believe I got your name."

"Oh, right. I'm Yukio Okumura." Upon hearing his family name I glanced between the to boys. No wonder they seemed similar to me – and they bickered the way they do.

"You're brothers!" My voice echoed in the clearing with my unnecessarily loud exclamation, which was soon follow by a far quieter, "That makes sense actually."

"Oh?" Met with Yukio's rather uniquely intimidating yet still gentle smile I flushed a little.

"Y-yeah…" I looked around and realized that I was alone with these two, which triggered my next question, "Where did Bon, Konekomaru, and that boy with pink hair go?"

Rin was the first to speak up, "They went chasing after the hobg-" he did not get to finish his statement, however, as Yukio interrupted him with an unusually loud clearing of the throat.

"I sent them to finish the job we came here for."

I stared suspiciously at Yukio, who was wearing a True Cross Order uniform. Who did he think he was fooling? I didn't know a lot about exorcists but I at least knew what they dressed like. I cocked my head, "You're here to exorcise something, aren't you?"

Yukio looked a little surprised, but his shock faded back into his friendly and pleasant smile almost immediately. "We are. But it's nothing to worry about – we have it all under control."

What were they here to exorcise? Was it some sort of evil demon? I shivered slightly at the thought. "What is it?" I found myself asking.

Rin answered this time, "What's what?"

"The demon you're here to exorcise."

"Oh! It's a hobgoblin." My eyes widened and I stared at Rin. A _hobgoblin?_ Like Behemoth? Was it the one that stole my purse? But why? They weren't evil – just mischievous, nothing worth killing them over. My mouth opened; I wanted to tell them that it wasn't just to do such a thing, but nothing came out. I realized why. This wasn't my world. I knew almost nothing about it – yes I could see demons, I could for as long as I could remember, but beyond that I had no real interaction save one. I was partial to a hobgoblin and even a demon king. Yes. True. So of course I'd feel this way, but beyond that – what did I know, who was I to claim justice and injustice in these demonic matters. I bit my tongue and closed my mouth.

Yukio broke the momentary silence, "May I take a look at your head?"

I looked to him; a sharp pain reminded me of how I got into this situation and I reached up to grab my head. "Ow…" Gently, my fingers brushed the back of my skull; I flinched due to the throbbing and when I pulled away I noticed there was something red smeared on my fingers.

"Be careful; I kind of did a number on y-"

Rin was interrupted but this time it wasn't by his brother. It was by a foot belonging to an unknown person. I hadn't even noticed anyone approach and apparently neither had the brothers. Honestly, I never really even saw the foot move past me; instead I felt the air rustle my hair and brush my cheeks as it rushed by me at a speed I could never hope to match. My eyes widened in shock and I flinched away in fear as I watched the boy I had recently run into fly away from me and collide with a nearby tree in an explosion of wood chips.

My voice poured out of my lips before I could do anything to stop myself, "Rin!" Out of the corner of my eye I saw Yukio reach out to me with one hand and reach for an object at his waist, I glanced at him and saw his gaze set on someone or something behind me. But within seconds, Yukio was no longer in my field of vision as he too was kicked away, though not quite with the same degree of force. My arm shot out after him and a screech flew through my lips while my eyes watered.

Fear flooded through me and instinctually I began to crawl away. The terror tempted me with desire to turn around and glimpse the attacker behind me, and for a moment I resisted the temptation. But eventually, my curiosity forced my hand and my head turned.

I froze in shock. Standing before me with his normal deadpan expression was none other than my own green-haired friend. I wasn't sure what to think, or really even what to say. I couldn't move; all I could do was stare up at him, horrified.

It wasn't until he looked at me that my muscles loosened back up only to tense once again as I recoiled from his stare and began trembling.

"Argh. Damn it!" My eyes shot back towards where Rin had landed, to my surprise he was standing back up, although admittedly he looked like he was in a lot of pain. Nonetheless, the boy glared at Amaimon with incredible ferocity and he reached for the object he kept strapped to his back. He paused however when his gaze fell on me, and his features took on a conflicted appearance. Eventually, his hand came to rest on whatever it was, but he made no move after that, instead he opened his mouth and called out in obvious anger, "what are _you_ doing here!?"

The green-haired demon stared at Rin, and cocked his head very slightly, "Ah…? I'm just here to have some fun."

_Fun? _Was _that_ what Amaimon considered fun? I looked at the Demon King through blurry vision and tried desperately to erase the fearful and confused thoughts from my head.

Rin's frown darkened and he shouted back at the demon, "Fun!? This isn't fun!?"

"I agree."

_Huh?_ For a moment, I just watched him unwrap a lollipop and lazily put it in his mouth before he turned around and jumped into the trees leaving me to stare blankly at the space in front of me.

"Yukio!" Rin's voice broke me out of my stupor and I turned towards the brown-haired boy. He was just starting to come out of the daze he had been in after hitting his head against the tree. I wanted to move towards him and make sure he was okay, but somehow I couldn't really bring myself to move.

"…Rin? Are you okay?"

"Am _I_ okay? Of course I am! Are you okay?!"

I stared at Rin dumbfounded for a second. Of course he was? He hit that tree hard enough to splinter it…he really shouldn't be okay. My lips quivered. Why? Why had Amaimon attacked them like that?

I couldn't understand.

* * *

"_**Don't be afraid of your fears. They're not there to scare you. They're there to let you know that something is worth it."**_

― _**C. JoyBell C.**_

* * *

I stared at the spare key in my hands. It had been a long day, and not a day I wanted to repeat. It had started off innocent enough. Normal even. Then a hobgoblin stole my purse, which I never did manage to get back. I ran into some new people, some weird new people who were apparently exorcists. Afterwards, I was knocked out by Rin only to wake up and meet his brother.

Up until that point, everything was fine – weird, yes – but fine.

Then Amaimon had shown up. Normally, that would be the highlight of my day. We usually have so much fun when he's around but today…today it had been the worst part of it. I wished he had never appeared because now I was afraid.

I was afraid I'd be afraid the next time I saw him.

After the incident, the other three boys returned and Yukio and Rin were taken to get medical attention, while I was left with Bon. They had tried to convince me to come with them, but I was adamant about just wanting to go home. Yukio didn't think I had a concussion since my head had stopped hurting by that point, though occasionally the scab on the back of my head stung, and furthermore I hadn't had a hair on my head touched by Amaimon, so he consented to my return as long as I promised to see a doctor tomorrow and have my head checked. I also had to agree to being walked home; after all it was the twilight hours. So after being given a phone number to call if I run into trouble and saying farewell, Bon and I walked to my apartment.

The delinquent-like boy was surprisingly kind as we walked. He didn't try to force me to talk and though his speech was a little rough around the edges when he did speak, I realized after a short while he was trying to be nice in his own way.

As a result the walk home had been quiet, but comforting.

He left me outside my apartment building – I don't think he felt comfortable walking all the way to my front door and frankly I don't blame him.

Since I still didn't have my purse, and therefore my keys I contacted the manager of the building and explained to him that I had had my purse stolen (which wasn't a lie) and that I didn't have my house keys. I had to wait for a short time but eventually he brought me the spare key, and now here I was in front of my door staring at the key.

I opened the apartment door, walked in, locked the door, kicked off my shoes, and walked to my bedroom. I just wanted to go to sleep and start anew tomorrow. With my head hanging, I lethargically entered my dark room and was unexpectedly greeted by a hobgoblin I quickly recognized.

As he jumped on me, knocking me slightly into the door behind me I squealed, "Behemoth!?" Trying to calm his energetic greeting my hands attempted to soothingly rub the top of his head. As he slowly calmed down, I wrinkled my brows, "How did you get in h-?"

I froze as the purse I lost earlier today hung in my field of vision. It was suspended in the air by a familiar figure, silhouetted by the moonlight trickling in through my window. Instinctual fear pulsed through me while I recalled the events that took place at the flower garden and I recoiled away from the bag and hand that held it. "Amaimon."

"…" My eyes slowly adjusted to the dark and vaguely I could make out his face as he cocked his head ever so slightly and a faint frown carved itself into his normal stony mask. Then he spoke again, "You're scared."

I flinched, though this time it wasn't because of him, rather it was due to the honesty of his words. I looked away and lifted my hands from Behemoth to my chest causing the hobgoblin to whimper in disappointment; I felt ashamed. Amaimon was one I had said I trusted, a friend, yet I was trembling.

I looked back up at the teenage demon and met his gaze, "Yes. I am."

"…Why?"

Why was I scared? What was I scared of? Was I really scared of Amaimon? I stared at him. No I don't think I was scared of him per say. He's never harmed me before, and he didn't harm me this time around. What I think I was scared of is not _who_ he is or even _what _he is, but what he _could _do and what he _did_. What I saw happen today was a harsh wake up call to the world I had stumbled into that night I found Behemoth. And I was ill prepared to face it.

Moreover, I was confused. Amaimon had only ever seemed violent twice in the time I had known him and neither time was without some kind of cause (and it comes as no surprise that he was a tad-bit trigger happy, but he was a demon.) The first was when we first met and he thought I was going to try and keep Behemoth from him. The second time was when he protected me from those creatures. This time, however, he had no cause except boredom.

I wasn't raised under a rock. I had seen a boxing match; I understood that sometimes a fight was a way to relieve boredom. But boxing matches were held in controlled environments and no one fought with the intention of killing someone else. Moreover, both parties had consented to the fight. What Amaimon had done was no boxing match.

"Because, Amaimon, you attacked someone just for fun…"

"I didn't." His voice was deadpan and firm while he denied my accusation. My eyes narrowed in confusion and my fist clenched. I had been there! I had seen what he did! Why was he trying to lie about it?

Unintentionally, I raised my voice as I rebutted him (which I noticed startled the hobgoblin at my feet sending him running in circles around my room before he landed on my bed), "I _saw _you! I know you attacked them!"

"I did." Now I was starting to get angry and I opened my mouth to argue with him but he spoke first, "But you were bleeding." I froze.

"What?"

He seemed thoughtful for a moment, "Ah…and I guess I don't really like him."

Now, _that _sounded more like Amaimon.

"Brother will probably be mad, though." It felt like Amaimon was starting to have this conversation with himself. "I'm not supposed to fight Rin anymore."

Wait, _what_? Anymore? He and Rin had fought before? When?

"But…I don't like losing."

And he _lost?_ How was that possible?

"And he hurt my friend, so brother should understand."

The questions running marathons in my head came to a screeching halt. _Friend_. He'd called me his friend. No vague words that merely implied I was his friend. He had openly stated it in clear terms. I _was_ his friend.

And that breakthrough bulldozed my fears. Though pieces of that terror still remained here and there; I understood now more than ever that continuing this relationship would mean difficulty in the future, especially for me. I was stepping into a world I had no business stepping into. I really didn't have the power to protect myself if I ever needed to. I didn't really understand the system or the natural relationship between Demons and Humans or more specifically exorcists. This was unchartered territory and it wasn't safe territory. After all, I had no guarantee that Amaimon wouldn't get bored of me, nor did I have any guarantee that he'd continue to keep me safe. Frankly, he might end up inadvertently being the cause of injury. I knew I should back out of my strange relationship with this strange demon.

But, I didn't really want to.

And doing what you _want_ is often easier than doing what you _should_.

So, one more time: I'd put my trust in my friend. My friend who happens to be a Demon King. My friend who is far too easily bribed with candy. My friend whose behavior is strange but entertaining. My friend who learns something new everyday and teaches me something new as well. Amaimon.

Here's hoping I don't regret it.

"…Thank you Amaimon."

The demon, who had turned away from me during his self-musings refocused his stony, though still somehow confused (I'm always fascinated by his ability to be emotionless and fully emotional at the same time) gaze on me. "…huh?"

"But…" I continued, "I'm still mad at you for attacking those two today."

"Ahh~ annoying." I glowered at the demon and crossing my arms in annoyance.

I flipped the light switch on, finally illuminating my room in the orange toned artificial light before I continue to speak, "they were helping me, Amaimon. There was no reason to attack them."

The Demon King quickly resorted to pouting in his usual manner when he sensed he wasn't getting his way, but I didn't back down, "You should apologize."

"No."

"Why not!?"

"They're exorcists." Okay…so I could see where that might be a problem, I recalled my earlier conversation with Yukio and Rin and remembered their willingness to exorcise a hobgoblin for goofing off. Which, reminds me…

"How did you get my purse back?" Amaimon blinked once before glancing down at his hand, almost as though he had forgotten he had the bag.

"Oh…I asked for it." I deadpanned ever so slightly before sighing in resignation; he made my struggle and ultimate failure at regaining it seem so unnecessary. "I don't want to hold it anymore – take it."

He held his hand and the bag out to me again, but this time I didn't flinch away – rather I almost felt comfortable as I reached out for the bag. "Okay. I can do that."

* * *

"_**The end is in the beginning and lies far ahead."**_

_**~ Ralph Ellison**_

* * *

Wow, I'm so sorry for the delay everyone – I do hope you can forgive me and that this chapter was good enough to make it all better. ^^

Also, I know Yukio is younger (I realized I mentioned that he seemed older earlier, but to me and therefore Kotori he does seem that way and since no one explicitly told Kotori otherwise she'll probably continue to believe it. ^^).

Thanks for sticking with me,

~Cheru


	8. A Budding Menace

**3/7/2016** **In response to a recent guest review stating this is discontinued (because I don't want to post another chapter just to say this, that would be cruel to you guys): I SWEAR IT'S NOT! I'm writing it, just really slowly. Ask anyone whose been following for a while - my updates are totally random. Sometimes I get one up monthly sometimes I drop off the map for months at a time. I try to update my profile pretty regularly if I do go an extended period without posting a new chapter just to keep you all in the loop, but I'll go ahead and post here what I posted there for those who don't care enough to check my profile: "_Gosh, I'm so sorry I still haven't finished this chapter_ (chapter **NINE** not eight) _everyone, but between the difficulty of one of the characters in this chapter, school, and my having been very sick the past few weeks_ (like I swear if I have to visit a doctors office one more time I'm gonna sue) _I just haven't had the chance to finish it. I'll try to have it done as soon as I can._"

I have actually been sick these last few months for varying reasons, first off it was a cold - or I thought it was but it escalated to the flu so I was quite sick for almost a week due to that. Then I finally recovered only to get sick again with food poisoning (it was awful...so awful). Plug in school and various other health issues that I won't address and I've just been really lacking for time and energy to devote to writing (for fun mind you, my teachers rejoice in making me write project proposals, papers, and every other cruelly devised academic writing scheme) - but I haven't dropped it! So please do not fret! And again I apologize for the delay! (Wow this note ended up being a lot longer than I meant for it to be - I feel like my time would have been better spent writing the story...oi.)

I do not own Blue Exorcist – only my characters and story line.

"_**I'm not a doctor. I just have a tremendous amount of common sense."**_

_**~Steve Harvey**_

**A Budding Menace **

Morning couldn't come fast enough.

Yesterday was really quite eventful, too eventful honestly. My little heart could only handle so many surprises and so many emotions in a short period of time. What I just went through was really pushing my limits and I could feel it even after a night's sleep.

It didn't help that I hadn't had a proper night's rest in weeks due to the recurring dreams I was having. I wasn't really sure if these enervating dreams were nightmares or not. They weren't pleasant but they weren't scary. Mysterious, yes. Connected as well. The first few nights it was the same dream over and over again, about the faceless people, the bright road that I wasn't supposed to step off of, and the whimpering that made me do it. But then my dreams moved on. It was the same story but instead of starting at the beginning it picked up where the other dream left off. I'd end up wandering in the dark, totally lost (as if that were unusual), but following the sound of whimpering all the while. Eventually my eyes grew accustomed to the dark and I could see with more and more clarity, though still not anywhere near perfectly.

I'd trip on something, and whimper myself. I'd decide to go back to the bright path, if I was able to find it. But when I'd go to stand up, I found myself receiving help from a hand reaching out to take my own. However, I always woke up before I took it and before I could see whom it belonged to.

I might could guess who it was if I were pushed to.

Sunlight trickled into my room through the partially closed blinds as the sun rose. My eyes fluttered, trying to shoo away the morning light frolicking across my face. It didn't work.

So though this morning was a happy chance to start anew, it was still a morning, and I was still tired, and I was still not in the mood to crawl out of bed, and I was still miserable. I simply wasn't ready for the day to begin. A rebellious growl rumbled in my chest and I defiantly grabbed my pillow, pulled it out from beneath my head, and covered my face.

Yes. I could most certainly sleep like this.

Or not.

It was a thought I had had many times before but never really acted upon since, though it embarrassed me, it never seemed to be that big of a problem. But now, now I realized this was a bigger problem than I originally thought. There were some things that, no matter how unaware or innocent the intention is, simply aren't appropriate. Which meant I really needed to talk to Amaimon about appropriate and inappropriate breaches of personal space between male and female friends, who are in fact _only _friends.

This thought, of course, occurred to me only after I felt the rustle of bed sheets and my body shifting towards the impression made in my bed by a heavy object quickly joining me in it. I admittedly didn't make much effort to move away at first, since I had assumed it to be Behemoth, but when I felt a very human body wiggle a little closer, I flew out of bed and turned on my heels towards to person still laying on it. Ready to begin lecturing him.

But when I actually saw him I stopped dead in my tracks. It _was _Amaimon, as I had assumed. He had sat up when I jumped to my feet and cocked his head curiously, but that wasn't what stopped me. What stopped me was that he was head to toe covered in cuts and bruises.

I tried to look him in the eyes as I gasped my shock and worry, but was immediately distracted by a set of cuts and bruises that highlighted the area around his left eye. Finally I found my voice, "What!? What happened to you?! You're _really_ hurt!?"

If I'm being honest, I wasn't totally certain if I was more concerned that someone had actually managed to hurt him (from what I'd read and seen that's no easy task, so I could be a little fearful of what sort of powerful creature could cause this kind of damage admittedly), or was concerned _because_ he was hurt. Although I do believe I was leaning more towards the latter.

Despite my concern for his wellbeing, Amaimon was totally and completely _un_concerned. So much so, he all too literally shrugged off my question and when Behemoth joined him on my bed actually began wrestling with him, laughing while he did so I'll add. I noticed rather quickly the way scabbed over cuts, visible even to my eye through the rips in his shirt, reopened and started bleeding again, and in a fretful flurry ran to the pair and worked to separate them, "STOP IT! Amaimon, you're BLEEDING!"

As a side note, there is nothing intelligent about jumping in the middle of two rough housing demons and I most certainly don't suggest it. Fortunately, though they were certainly _rough_ with each other they didn't seem at all intent on roughing me up (of course, that doesn't mean they didn't). That being said, I did not successfully separate them. Rather, I seemed to get pulled into their game.

It had started out as I had meant it to; I had latched onto Behemoth and pulled desperately, my foot even making it to the edge of my bed for leverage, "Behemoth! Get off!" I grunted as I pulled with all the force I could muster. Frankly, they didn't seem the least bit fazed and in the end my grip slipped and I ended up falling backwards onto my back with a measly yelp while they continued wrestling. They did end up on the floor, but that was a result of their own actions – not mine, and honestly that just made me even more worried about Amaimon's injuries. Although if I thought it through, perhaps I shouldn't have been at all worried about them since he wasn't.

Nonetheless, I clearly wasn't thinking things through. And I sat up in time to see Amaimon toss Behemoth away playfully, only to have the goblin immediately recover and impishly leap back into the fray with a slight growl. I quickly followed suit, but changed my tactics. This time, instead of trying to pull one off the other, I attempted to force myself between them. "Come on you two! Quit it!" I did actually managed to maneuver myself between them slightly; I had my left elbow and shoulder on Amaimon's chest, and both my hands and right forearm trying desperately to push away Behemoth.

"Haha!" I heard the warning in Amaimon's excited laugh far too late and could do nothing when I felt his hand grip one of my knees and pull it out from under me, sending me stumbling onto my back _again_.

"Ack!" Annoyance, was quickly replacing worry as I sat back up only to get knocked back down by Behemoth. "OW!" I shoved at the goblin as he tried to lick my face, but I was being overwhelmed by the fiend's enthusiasm. "BEHEMOTH!"

I did find myself being rescued, however. I mean, I guess you could call it being rescued – although, that might not be the best term for what happened either. Two hands took hold of my ankles and dragged me out from beneath Behemoth, of course, this did cause my over sized pajama top and old plaid shorts to ride up indecently, and I won't even begin to mention the unfortunate rug burns that were certain to be on my back now. "GYA!" was about the only sound I managed to make as I grabbed my shirt and glared at Amaimon. It was seriously too early in the morning for this and I was too damn tired.

Amaimon had a frown of his own, "Don't ignore me!"

"I wasn't!" I declared dumbfounded while sitting up for the third time and trying to kick my feet free from his grip. My words apparently satisfied him since he smiled gleefully, which only called attention to his painful looking left eye. Of course, before I could say anything about it our hobgoblin pet tackled us both.

He tackled me from behind effectively knocking the wind out of me, and subsequently shoved me into Amaimon's chest, which knocked him onto his back and forced him to release my feet. I groaned in pain, as Behemoth was very heavy and frankly Amaimon's chest wasn't exactly soft against mine. Plus, Behemoth's back claws were scratching my rug-burned back (that now that I was thinking about it was still bare making this entire sandwich situation even more awkward than it already was considering I also wasn't wearing a bra).

Of course, I apparently was the only one suffering since Amaimon had resumed his joyful giggling and Behemoth was chuckling in his own monstrous way as well and they started wrestling once again, only this time with me awkwardly trapped in the middle. As for me, I was smacking Amaimon's chest in an attempt to escape from this very unusual position that I now found myself in.

It was a fruitless effort really as no matter how I slapped I was still entrapped between their arms.

I flinched when I heard Behemoth growl somewhat possessively and yank me by the arm away from Amaimon. "Ow!" I squealed.

"Behemoth!" The green-haired demon sat up and frowned, "I had her first!" I took note that my feet were once again in Amaimon's grip and I grimaced for what I knew was coming. My intuition was accurate and I felt my backside slide back across the floor as he hauled me back towards him. I flinched in pain and squeaked.

"Gu-YAAH!" I was cut off by Behemoth pulling on my arm again, which caused my shrill squeal of pain and then a whimper.

I felt Amaimon release my feet, and heard rather than felt him move towards me. But he never laid a hand on me; rather he frowned and reached around my body to shove Behemoth off. "Don't break her! It's no fun if you break her."

I'd had enough, "You're _**BOTH **_breaking me!" I snapped at them and shoved Amaimon, who was still fairly close, away. The moment I did it, however, I noticed something wet on my hands and glanced down at them. My eyes went wide and I remembered why I had involved myself in this nonsense to begin with.

My hands and my shirt, now that I was looking at it, were painted red. I doubted Amaimon's life was in danger but I was reminded that he was hurt and I had a first-aid kit in the bathroom.

I looked back at my demonic friend, who was staring at me in his customary blank fashion. Out of my peripheral I noticed Behemoth coiled and ready to spring forward, but before he could engage either one of us in the game again I turned on him, "Behemoth! SIT!" His butt hit the floor immediately and he stared up at me. He almost seemed confused and a little frightened, likely by the unusual authority in my tone, but frankly I was kind of okay with that at the moment.

The next person I turned on was none other than Amaimon, obviously. I clambered to my feet, and corrected my disheveled appearance as best I could (I was trying to ignore the fact I likely had bed head and wasn't wearing an ounce of makeup). Then I spoke to the green-hair demon who had, at some point, unwrapped a lollipop and started sucking on it, "You, come with me. I'm gonna take a look at your injuries."

He furrowed his brows, clearly confused, "Why?"

I stomped my foot in aggravation before answering, "Because I'm worried about you and I don't like seeing you hurt. Isn't that obvious?" His head cocked and he shifted his lollipop from one side of his mouth to the other.

"But then…why do you want to _look _at my injuries?"

I might have smacked him for the smart-ass remark. "So I can help heal them!"

He blinked then gave his bored reply, "I don't need help."

I narrowed my gaze on the Demon King. Not in anger, but more in an attempt to understand his point of view, and somehow I could. He was, after all, a King of Demons. Receiving help in general was probably something he might consider shameful, especially if it came from a human girl like me. Still, his words did kind of cut a little.

With a self-calming sigh I chose my next words carefully, "Amaimon, I know you don't _need_ help. You're _strong_, so much stronger than me, which means there isn't a lot I can do for you as you're _friend_. But if _you _will _let _me, I'd at least like to treat you on the rare occasions you're hurt, even though you don't _actually_ need me to." My words were completely honest, but I won't lie I _was _trying to gain his favor a little. Sometimes a little sucking up is necessary to get your way.

He gave me a rather curious look, one I couldn't really place since I hadn't actually seen it before, but it passed quickly enough and his normally impassive face reappeared. That being said I was still caught off guard by what he said, "Ah~…but I think you already do a lot." My mouth opened slightly, and I felt a warmth spread from my chest to my cheeks at his unexpectedly kind words. Of course, despite my reaction, he just continued to suck his lollipop as he got to his feet and stared expectantly at me.

I shook away my surprise a second later and stared back at him, not entirely sure what he wanted from me. After a moment, I finally asked, "What?"

"You told me to come with you." He deadpanned.

"OH! Right!" I was unsure why, but for one reason or another I was flustered, "Uh…this way." Nonetheless, I still awkwardly lead him to my bathroom (I was a little surprised he was even letting me treat him).

When we entered I put the toilet seat down and had him sit down on it while I shuffled through my bathroom cabinet in search of the first-aid kit I knew had to be there. After messily rearranging a few things, I located the treasure I was in search of and pulled out the white semi-translucent plastic case. Setting it on the countertop I popped it open and glanced over at Amaimon. He was staring at the tiles around the tub, I took a peek at them through the mirror, but didn't see anything unusual about them so I shrugged and continued what I was doing.

I found the cotton balls and disinfectant and turned to face Amaimon. I distinctly remembered treating Behemoth when I first brought him home and momentarily wondered if things were going to proceed in a similar manner. I hoped not. That hadn't been an overly pleasant night.

Dampening a cotton ball with disinfectant, I maneuvered myself in front of Amaimon, which drew his attention from my tiled walls to me. I noticed his eyes narrow on the cotton ball and his nose wrinkle, like he could smell the alcoholic liquid and didn't find the scent appealing. He made no attempt at concealing his distaste for the cotton ball as he leaned away from my hand in a very childish manner. "It smells bad."

I smiled, "Agreed. It isn't a very pleasant smell, but it's good for you."

"Hm." I watched as he shifted the lollipop to the other side of his mouth once more and stared vacantly at the white puffball as it approached his left eye. Just when I thought things would go fairly straightforwardly and he'd let me treat his eye calmly, he leaned to the right, effectively dodging my hand.

I eyed him and he met my gaze with an indifferent stare, yet, and it might have been my imagination, he almost seemed to be issuing a challenge. A challenge I wouldn't dare back down from.

"Now you. Sit still."

He blinked before he answered, "…Ah, okay."

Somehow, I got the feeling those were completely empty words. Again, I tried to dab the cut by his left eye, and once again he moved out of the way. Then for a third time, the routine repeated itself and I stomped my foot. "Amaimon! Stop that!"

"Don't wanna."

"Oh come on! I thought you were going to let me help you!" At my declaration, Amaimon furrowed his brow for a moment then bit down on the remainder of his lollipop, crushing it. Then he spit the stick out. I recoiled a little. I was half worried that was his way of warning me and I subconsciously found myself backing away from him.

However, I didn't get far as he snatched one of my wrists. "It's no fun if you give up."

I puffed up my cheeks in annoyance before I responded, "I'm not giving up! I said I'd help you and I will but only if you _let_ me! So make up your mind." After making my statement, I initiated a stare down with the demon. It was difficult, as always. I would never be able to fathom how he could remain so emotionless while I struggled just to maintain one consistent emotion.

"Fine."

I broke my gaze with a surprised blink and then allowed an earnest smile to light my face. Of course, we'd see if this was an authentic 'fine'. I cautiously raised my free hand, the hand with the cotton ball in it, and gently rested it on the cut on his face. He didn't so much as flinch despite the fact I was certain it must have stung. I was admittedly, impressed.

Of course, even more astounding was the fact he literally never blinked. How he managed to keep his eyes open with a hand, cotton ball, and disinfectant less than two inches from one of them I don't think I'd ever know. Although, though it was impressive, I kind of wished he would blink since I'd be lying if I said the way he was staring didn't fluster me at all. Still, I managed to focus on my task and proceeded with cleaning up his face.

A few moments of awkward silence passed between us before I was finally too uncomfortable and too curious to hold my tongue any longer, "What happened to you?"

The Demon King finally blinked when I spoke, but ultimately ignored my question.

"Please?" I entreated.

He cocked his head and creased his brow in displeasure, but did eventually give in, "Big brother disciplined me for fighting when I'm not supposed to."

I recalled yesterday's incident and looked down. While I don't think what happened was really my fault, I still felt partially responsible since he believed he was acting on my behalf and therefore guilty for his current state. However, I also felt horrified. I couldn't imagine beating someone like this, especially not my own family.

Somehow, the more I heard about Amaimon's brother, the more he scared me and the less I like him.

"…" I was quiet for a second, but eventually, I looked back up at the demon sitting before me, "Amaimon, will you promise me something?"

His already cocked head tilted further but his frown dissolved leaving behind his standard blank stare, "Nope."

* * *

"_**Language is the proper way to communicate, followed closely by five balled up fingers forming a fist and flying at a face. Violence is never the answer—unless the question is: What the f*ck are you going to do about it?" **_

― _**Jarod Kintz, This Book is Not FOR SALE**_

* * *

If he wasn't already so beat up I'd probably feel inclined to hit him. He could never justsay yes. He always had to give me a hard time. While I did not hit him, I did express my frustration with his response in the slightly rough way I applied the Band-Aid to the side of his head. "Ow." He did complain, although frankly the complaint was so monotone that it felt more like a rehearsed line than an actual expression of pain, so I honestly felt no remorse.

I stepped back, crossed my arms, and ignored his last two words. He had flipped the switch on my lecture mode and I wasn't planning on holding back, so for the second time that morning I spoke with an unusual amount of authority, "I'm gonna speak anyways. And you're gonna sit there and listen."

Amaimon blinked three times and straightened up in his seat. He wore the same look of surprise he had when I shoved him into my closet that night my parents came home.

"First of all, I want you to try your best to avoid fighting until these injuries have healed," I continued as fast as I could, I didn't want to give him the opportunity to backtalk, "And second of all, I want to talk to you about appropriate and inappropriate boundaries."

He blinked and sat in momentary silence, then his head tilted, "…boundaries?"

"Yes. Boundaries."

"What boundaries?"

I bit my bottom lip for a moment while I thought about how to explain this, I glanced at my ceiling while I spoke, "Well, we _are_ friends, but there are certain things that are okay to do with friends, and certain things that aren't."

When I looked back down, I turned bright red. Oh, the irony. Here I was talking about boundaries, and he was totally ignoring mine. He'd leaned into my personal space in that way he's done so often in the time I'd known him, and just like usual it set my heart a flutter. "Like what?" He queried apathetically. How? How could he be so indifferent when he was so close?

"W-well, for starters, you really shouldn't get this close to people…it's kind of intimate…and we're only friends."

"…I get this close to Behemoth all the time."

I was at a loss for words. Could Amaimon really not see a difference between Behemoth and I? At all? "…it's different with Behemoth, though. I mean…_I_'m different from Behemoth."

"You are?" He leaned in closer and my temperature skyrocketed, although I was unsure if that was due to self-consciousness or irritation. I met his gaze before I spoke, and I could swear I saw a mischievous glint in those unfeeling orbs of his.

Why did I get the sense he was teasing me? That he was testing me, appraising my reaction, and thoroughly enjoying it. "W-well…yes. Because you're a boy and I'm a-"

Now I was certain, there was most definitely an amused gleam in those not-so deadpan eyes as he interrupted me. "A girl? _So_?"

I will admit. There were many things I was willing to do for my friends, but giving this full-grown demon male the 'sex' talk wasn't one of them. Besides, I had the sinking suspicion, that though he paid little to no mind at all to differences between the sexes (or at least acted that way), he wasn't completely unaware of them, rather I think all the while I'd known him he'd always known (which made some of the more awkward memories all the more awkward and made me very suspicious of some of his previous behavior). So instead of answering his question I deflected the problem, "Ask your big brother."

At this point my face was burning, but I managed to continue, "F-for now, just try not to be _too _close to me and don't lay in bed with me."

"…"

Admittedly, I don't know what his silence and blank stare meant in this situation. But I hoped it was acquiescence. "S-so, can I look at your other injuries, please?"

In the following moments, I would deeply regret my plea, although, later I would have more diverse and conflicting feelings concerning it. Why? Well, I hadn't thought through my request when I made it, so it hadn't occurred to me that his torso would be the site of most of his injuries, which meant that in order for me to see them he'd have to show me his chest.

In simple terms: He'd have to take off his shirt.

* * *

Oh~ goodness. This had been a day. This had been a _series _of days. But _this one_ may actually take the cake. As if the fiasco from this morning was not heart pounding enough, now I was desperately running away from exorcists with Amaimon and Behemoth. What _had _I done to deserve this? But before I address my current misadventure, let's backtrack a little to this morning's.

Don't misunderstand. I'd never say it out loud, but, though this morning was uncomfortable and highly embarrassing, I _did_ enjoy patching up Amaimon.

How could I not? I'm a healthy hormonal teenage girl and a demon he may be, but he was a _highly_ attractive male demon with abs to die for. Seriously though, if pressed, I will deny all charges lain against me and claim indifference. After all: Amaimon is _not_ eye candy he is one of my _friends_, and one does _not_ ogle their friends, especially not when said friend is covered in cuts and bruises.

I'd been silently and shamefully chanting that mantra since this morning. Even when he was once again fully clothed, every time I looked at him I turned bright red with the memory of his shirtless self and had to resist the urge slap my face in an attempt to cleanse my mind of the image.

And instead of dealing with this awkwardness like a proper adult, I'd resorted to doing everything in my power not to look at him at all, and let's face it I was about as inconspicuous as an elephant, so he caught on to my avoidance. The problem is Amaimon's nature doesn't allow for him to be ignored. He hated to be ignored. Which meant I couldn't actually ignore or avoid him.

Now, if I can't ignore or avoid then the next best thing was a reasonable distraction, right? That's what I thought too. And under normal circumstances, my plan would have worked. But, from the get go this day was doomed to failure and as a result my plan hit a snag and the problems snowballed from that point forward.

The plan _was_ simple. We were going to leave the house. The less reminders of this morning and the more distractions the better. So, after ushering Amaimon and Behemoth into my living room, I proceeded to begin the day and once decent I emerged and asked them if they'd like to go somewhere. Behemoth was always agreeable on this point, and Amaimon didn't seem to see any reason to disagree with the hobgoblin and thusly we set out. Honestly, I had no idea where to take them so our adventure began directionless.

However, perhaps this was one of the few things that actually turned out okay. Despite not having anywhere specific to go, where we ended up was actually a nostalgic surprise. A park. A currently empty park. The park where we originally agreed to meet one another when we made our exchanges of Behemoth and lollipops.

As our agreement had basically been forgotten we hadn't been here in quite a while so I was actually kind of pleased to be here. "Hah~ we haven't been here in forever!" I smiled in contentment as I glanced over at Amaimon, who wasn't standing next to me anymore. I blinked confused, and did a three sixty spin in an attempt to find him. "Huh? Where did he go?" It was a question to no one in particular but it was answered nonetheless.

"Where'd who go?" I started and turned on my heels to face the voice behind me and found myself staring at a familiar, friendly, and rather lively face. Remember that snag I mentioned? Yeah, this was it.

"Rin!?" My eyes widened in shock and slight horror as I took in his cheerful but bandaged visage.

What was I going to do if he and Amaimon ran into each other again? I don't think my heart could handle another ordeal like yesterday's. Plus, what would I say? _'Yeah, I'm pretty chummy with the demon king that kicked your ass yesterday without so much as a warning.' _Somehow, I doubted that would go over well. While it bothered me that Amaimon had vanished without so much as a word, I also found myself grateful he _wasn't_ here. Maybe Rin was the reason for his disappearing act in the first place…

After all, he was supposed to be avoiding fights with Rin, right? Still, he could have said something – although knowing his personality it made sense he wouldn't.

On another note, what was Rin doing here anyways?

During my entire internal monologue, which had in fact only lasted a fraction of a moment though it certainly seemed longer, the dark haired teenager smiled and waved shyly but energetically nonetheless, "Hey, Kotoro!" Seriously, you'd think he was the one that hit his head yesterday.

"It's Kotori, and…uh…hi…back?"

He blushed a little and scratched the back of his head in his energetic manner but his friendly smile didn't waver, "I knew that…" he laughed a little awkwardly but quickly continued, "so how _are_ you? I mean…I did kind of knock you out yesterday…and then…" he trailed off slightly and a small frown adorned his features as he recalled all the chaos.

Rin really was a kind person. Not that I ever doubted that. "I'm fine, thanks." I smiled, "And you? You did hit that tree pretty hard…actually, I was surprised to see you get up so quickly…or at all."

"Uh…well, I've always been a fast healer." He seemed unusually nervous answering that question. But then again, I was nervous myself so I shouldn't be judging. Although, subconsciously I was curious.

"Oh, well that's good. You know, I actually need to go."

"Ah, that's right! You were looking for someone."

I felt my hands get a little clammy with nerves, "Er, y-yeah."

"Then I can help you look." His smile was so innocent and glittery that I honestly felt guilty despite not actually having done anything to feel guilty for, yet.

"Well, I mean that's not really necessary."

"Nah. I don't mind," he shrugged as he continued, "I promised I'd meet my brother and help him go shopping around here anyway, so I've got time to kill 'till he gets here."

I could have cried when I heard this unfortunate news and I did make a few nasty internal comments about my luck, but all I said aloud was, "So he's okay?"

"Yeah, he was in a pretty bad mood for a while though," his face darkened and he shivered as though remembering a terrifying memory, "and he's got a few bruises but nothing actually broke."

I liked Rin. He was nice. But by golly, I wasn't paying attention to a word he said. Rather, I was attentively attending to the plan I was in the middle of concocting to get rid of him before Amaimon or Behemoth decided to reveal themselves.

"So who are we looking for?" The question was so innocent and yet, I dreaded it so dearly. At the moment, I wanted nothing more than to pull my hair out in frustration and apprehension, but that would do nothing more than make me seem guilty of something – which I guess I might be.

I tried my best to think of an answer to the question that was as vague as possible since I didn't want to lie. Truthfully, I just wasn't very good at lying. But also, Rin was such a nice person I would feel like a horrible human being if I did lie to him. As a result the honest answer I ended up give him was as such, "A friend of mine."

Now the obvious problem with my answer to his question was it hadn't given him any details that could be utilized to locate said person, which meant that wasn't really the answer he was looking for. He scratched the back of his head, "um…what does she look like?"

I loved how he just assumed I was looking for a girl. "Well, for starters, I'm not looking for a 'she'."

"Oh!" A look of surprise and understanding crossed his features, but then his face morphed into a teasing smile, "You're looking for your boyfriend." As he spoke, he nudged me with his elbow, as if he were somewhere between teasing me and encouraging me.

I paused all thought and action and stared blankly at the boy. I wasn't sure what was more shocking, that he'd actually said it out loud, or that in the split second after he said it I had actually imagined Amaimon as my boyfriend. It didn't help that the image of the demon king totally shirtless was still fresh in the forefront of my mind, so when I imagined it, I imagined it in vivid flush worthy detail that effectively stalled my brain.

I don't know what my face looked like, but I knew I must be at least a little pink in the cheeks and my expression was likely one of disbelief because Rin began waving his hands in front of him while backpedaling, "Hey, I was just kidding. I didn't mean anything by it."

I blinked while my mental faculties worked to restart. Unfortunately, that meant my mind once again called up inappropriate images of my friend and forced me to lift my hands to my face in a vain attempt to hide my shameful blush.

Clearly uncomfortable with the situation at hand, Rin attempted to divert the conversation elsewhere, or rather return it to its original goal, "So, what does your missing friend look like?"

I cleared my throat and calmed myself so that I could answer, however, it proved unnecessary since someone answered for me. "Ah ~ yes, I guess he would look like me." The voice, which originated from directly above me, was simultaneously impassive and amused (how that was possible remains to be seen), and I knew whom it belonged to without looking.

Amaimon.

I had a moment to wonder what the chances were that Rin hadn't heard the King of Earth speak and therefore wasn't going to look up.

Apparently, they weren't favorable. Because Rin did look up.

Standing amidst the branches of a nearby tree, were Amaimon (who was sucking on a lollipop) and Behemoth, the latter of which was far less graceful in his attempts at remaining on the relatively thin branch and if it had been in any other context I probably would have laughed at his clumsiness. Unfortunately, this was not a moment for laughter.

"Amaimon!" Anger and aggression were clearly present in the voice of the teenaged boy standing next to me. Likely remnants of his frustration from yesterday, but I wasn't given much time to ponder this as I felt a hand on my arm and the sensation of being pulled. As it were, Rin had forced me behind him so that he could stand protectively between me and the green-haired demon while simultaneously reaching for that mysterious cloth clad object he always had with him. But like before, he hesitated to remove it from his back and opted instead to simply remain with a single hand gripping it.

The moment he had moved between Amaimon and I, there was a noticeable change in Amaimon's expression. His usually vacant façade morphed into a scowl, which seemed to settle on the hand still gripping my arm.

The tension in the air was palpable. And I knew that something had to be done or I'd have a fight on my hands, "Um…"

The dark haired boy, who had apparently incorrectly guessed what it was I was going to say, interrupted me, "Don't worry, I'm gonna protect you, Kotori." Though his concern was sweet, it was also unnecessary and irritated me slightly, seeing as Amaimon was my friend and would never hurt me (of course, obviously Rin did not know that).

I heard Amaimon crush the lollipop in his mouth and when I glanced up at him I noticed that his frown had not yet faded and was now focused solely on Rin. However, when I eased Rin's hand off my arm and opened my mouth to speak his gaze did shift towards me. "Rin…Amaimon won't hurt me."

"Well, obviously Amaimon won't-" He froze mid-speech, "huh?"

"He's my friend."

* * *

"_**I love running. I'm not into marathons, but I am into avoiding problems at an accelerated rate."**_

― _**Jarod Kintz**_

* * *

Well, I said it. It was out there in the open, for every exorcist to know now. That I, Kotori Ueda, was friends with the Demon King of the Earth, Amaimon. And while I'm not sure how I was expecting to feel, I was surprised to discover that I felt relief and not an ounce of regret.

All that being said, I think I broke Rin. He'd been staring at me open mouthed and stunned ever since I made my declaration.

When he did finally gain his wits again, it seemed as though he couldn't decided whether to be surprised or angry, "What?" The hand that had been holding my arm began pointing at the demon in the tree while Rin let accusations fly, "He's dangerous; he attacked you yesterday! Don't you remember that?"

"I didn't attack her." Rin and I turned to face Amaimon who had, at that point leapt out of the tree, Behemoth following close behind him. "I attacked _you_."

Rin glared and poised himself to fight, "You! You punk! What'd you attack _me_ for!" He took a step forward, like he was going to charge and I reached out to stop him.

"W-wait!"

I tried to take a step forward but was stopped by an arm that wrapped around my neck and pulled me backwards into the torso of another person. It was done gently, so it didn't hurt but I was relatively surprised by the sensation nonetheless and gasped. Frantically, I sought out the face of the one who owned said arm and discovered that Amaimon had at some point moved behind me. Though I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by that. This wasn't the first time he had moved faster than my eyes could follow. Rin too had been caught off guard by the movement.

Though surprised, Rin's glare didn't falter, "Get away from her!"

Amaimon wrapped his other arm around me in an obvious taunt, "…Don't want to." I tried unsuccessfully to fight back an exasperated sigh. And tried to peel his arms off my neck.

"Amaimon! Don't use me to start a fight." I narrowed my eyes at the demon, who met my determined gaze with an empty one of his own. After a moment, he blinked and released me. Following my release, I glanced at Rin whose eyes were flitting back and forth between the two of us, he looked as though he wasn't sure what to do or think. I noticed with slight worry and hope that the grip he had on whatever he carried around with him kept tightening and loosening, like he was trying to decide if he should let it go or not.

He was the epitome of conflicted in this very moment, and I knew (or maybe hoped) that just a little push would probably win him over, "Rin, please…" He looked at me, concern, confusion, irritation, and many other emotions reflected in his blue eyes.

He frowned and looked down, and then shut his eyes in a temporary deep concentration. When he finally looked back up he looked ready to speak, but unfortunately did not get the opportunity to.

"Rin?" We heard the voice from a distance and when I turned to look at the one who had spoken, I saw Yukio a little ways away. He looked a little surprised at first but as soon as he laid eyes on Amaimon his face darkened and a terrifyingly aggressive seriousness painted his features and he tensed, "Amaimon." All Yukio did was say the Demon's name, but I could hear it clearly – the threat. Even I could tell that if push came to shove, Yukio would fight to kill Amaimon and the realization sent shivers down my spine.

"Ah~ this might be a fun game, but…" The Demon King spoke and I turned on him, ready to lecture him about fighting (or simply beg him not to), however his final word 'but' cut me short in favor waiting to hear what else he was going to say. Unfortunately, whatever it was he might have said died while still on his tongue and it was clear he had no intention of resurrecting it. Instead, I felt a hand on my wrist, firm but oddly gentle and unquestionably Amaimon's followed by the sensation of being coerced into a sprint.

"Eek!" I stumbled initially since I wasn't expecting to be dragged into a chase, but soon fell quickly in line with Amaimon and Behemoth's stride. Well, as best I could – they _were_ demons.

Amaimon was running away? That seemed most unusual, he never ran from a fight. I don't know what made him choose to do so, but I didn't really care right now. I was just glad I wouldn't have to watch anyone get hurt.

"Ms. Ueda!" I glanced behind me upon hearing the formal outcry of my name and saw Yukio run after us. My vision shifted so that I could see the figure of Rin, about to begin running after us too.

Oh goodness~ here we were. Running from two exorcists. My heart was pumping blood to every part of my body, carrying with it adrenaline born from my nervousness, my excitement, and my exertion. And, what had I done to deserve this?

Well, the short and sweet answer was that I made a deal with a demon.

The slightly longer answer? I chose to befriend and trust a demon king named Amaimon that I made a deal with. Then I chose to side with said demon after openly admitting to said friendship in the presence of an exorcist. And frankly, I didn't regret it one bit. In all honesty, no longer having to hide it felt like a weight off my shoulders.

So, this fiasco was my just dessert. And I'd eat it willingly, and enjoy every second of it.

The corners of my mouth barely turned upwards as I took in Amaimon's back. Honestly though, the things I do for friends.

"Kotori!" I did my best to turn and look towards Rin, who was running after us, without tripping. At the moment our eyes met, I allowed my small smile to grow and his eyes widened in surprise and his gait slowed until he stopped all together. Yukio, when he saw his brother stop, also ceased his chase likely in concern for Rin.

"Woah!" I squealed when I was harshly pulled out of sight into the trees and shrubs to my right. Though, we couldn't be seen by the two brothers any longer we didn't stop running, which was okay for a while. Eventually, however, we were out of the park and in the bustling city where I highly doubted we would be followed and frankly I was out of breath. "A-Amaimon. Please, I'm tired!"

He stopped running so quickly and with so little warning that I crashed into his back and smashed my nose painfully against his shoulder blades, "Ack!"

He turned to glance at me while I rubbed my nose, slight tears formed in my eyes when I looked up at him. "Ow~"

He cocked his head and spoke, "You're really bad at running."

I pursed my lips and sulked, "Why do you only ever tell me I'm bad at stuff."

"Hmm…" he cocked his head as if in thought, "because you're bad at everything."

I gasped and hit his arm in irritation, "I am not!" His playful laugh echoed and a small grin forced its way onto my face despite my attempt not to let it.

However, the moment passed and a previous curiosity reemerged. Why had he run away? "Amaimon?" His smile disappeared and his apathetic countenance took its place, which I took as a signal that I now had his attention, "Why did you run away?"

He blinked. For one reason or another, the way he blinked made me feel like I had just asked him the world's stupidest question. And perhaps he agreed, because he didn't answer it.

That's not to say he didn't speak though, "exorcists…they're very weak." I furrowed my eyebrows while I wondered where he was going with this, but then he looked at me, "but you're_ much_ weaker."

My furrowed eyebrows immediately turned into an irate glare, "Now wait a second-"

"Stay away from them." Amaimon hadn't ordered me to do anything for a while. So I was caught off guard by the sudden tone he took. His face remained apathetic, but there was undeniably something that sounded like a warning hiding behind those words.

"Huh?"

"Stay away from them." It was the same tone again. And it sent a slight shiver down my spine. The shiver was reminiscent of the fear I'd felt yesterday after Amaimon had attacked Rin and Yukio, and I was once again reminded that I was dealing with a very powerful demon who was used to getting his way. I felt endangered. But my intuition was telling me not to run, that there was some kind of basis for his demand, though I didn't know what it was or if it was in my best interest, and that something awful would happen if I didn't heed it.

"Okay…I can do that."

* * *

"_**Where there is a will, there is a way. If there is a chance in a million that you can do something, anything, to keep what you want from ending, do it. Pry the door open or, if need be, wedge your foot in that door and keep it open."**_

_**~Pauline Kael**_

* * *

Season's Greetings to all my readers! I hope everyone who celebrates Thanksgiving had a wonderful holiday! Thanks as always for your continued support. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I'm trying hard to gradually bring in the story's main conflict in believable snippets, so I hope I've been successful thus far. I'm also trying to develop the characters in my story including Amaimon in believable ways. But let's face it, without any kind of development of character there could be no romance. Now don't fear, when I say development I don't mean changes in character. Amaimon will still be Amaimon, however, there are ways to retain a character's original personality while still showing growth so I hope I've been successful in gradually developing Kotori and Amaimon's characters and relationship. Anyway, as a warning, from here on out things will start to get a lot more serious because of the conflict, so there may not be as many funny moment as the mood gradually shifts - but fear not, I love humor so its not gone for good.

Also, yay! It didn't take me almost half a year to write this chapter! I'll try my best to get the next chapter up as soon as I can now that school is almost out, I hope you look forward to it.

Thanks again, and if you feel inclined I do love and appreciate hearing my readers thoughts and opinions, so don't be afraid to review!

And just in case I don't get the next chapter up before then, I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday, and a wonderful New Years!

~Cheru


	9. Curious Persons

I do not own any Blue Exorcist characters, themes, worlds, or ideas. Only my own.

"_**Even if you're not doing anything wrong, you are being watched and recorded."**_

_**~Edward Snowden**_

**Curious Persons**

Though I'm not purposely keeping track of the number of times I glanced outside the window of the candy shop; I am fully aware that this was in fact the thirty-seventh time I've walked by it and consequently stole a peek outside and across the street at the neighboring café during the two hours I'd been working my six hour shift. And just like every time before I grimaced and grew clammy while the hair on the back of my neck stood up.

I mean, for goodness sake, they weren't even _trying_ to blend in, they were two spots of black in an extremely bright colorful café – I wasn't even the only one who had noticed them, as even the passersby gave them odd stares as they walked. And just to add salt to their own open wounds, the way they'd very obviously avert their heads and look in the complete opposite direction of me every time I did look out the window at them wasn't helping their stalking cause. And they were most certainly stalking _someone_. That someone, I was quite certain, being _me_.

Frankly speaking, their rather conspicuous presence (which, if I had been a third-party observer, would have likely made me laugh) was making me highly uncomfortable. Especially since I had just made that promise with Amaimon to avoid their kind two days ago.

I scrambled away from the window and sagged against the wall of the shop and out of sight, then subsequently released the breath I hadn't even realized I was holding.

At this point, I was unsure whether I did actually prefer knowing for certain I was under observation over simply vaguely suspicious that I might be. When I had spotted them originally, I thought I did prefer the former since it validated my recent bout of baseless paranoia. But, as it would happen I handled stress remarkably poorly – and this was a highly stressful situation so my opinion on the matter was starting to shift towards the other end of the spectrum of preference.

I was being stalked by exorcists. Why? Well if I had to take a total stab in the dark (which honestly wasn't a real 'stab in the dark' at all), I would say it was likely because they had become aware of my relationship with a certain green-headed, candy-obsessed demon king and were in hopes they could exorcise him in some fashion – which was troublesome to say the least as I rather liked Amaimon and didn't particularly want him exorcised.

Moreover, I'd never actually been stalked before.

In the end, the simple fact of this rather complex matter was that I wasn't really sure how to handle this novel and somewhat daffy predicament I had found myself in.

I suppose calling the cops was always an option.

But, as was always the case with anything concerning Amaimon and Behemoth, I wasn't quite sure how I'd go about explaining the potential motives of the exorcists. Plus, last time I checked, exorcists were generally held in fairly high regard. At least, I assumed they were regarded as respectable men and women of the church (or shrine as the case may be) still, so who really knew how seriously the cops would take me?

"Ugh…why…well no not why," I began to grumble to myself, "I know full well why my life is so difficult at the moment…" Still, I couldn't help but wonder when exactly things actually went so terribly awry.

I didn't think it was when I first found Behemoth. I mean, let's face it, people encounter hobgoblins on an everyday basis, whether they realize it or not. That just didn't seem like enough cause to warrant stalking.

Bringing him home might have been a little silly, admittedly, but still – in my head I couldn't justify that as a potential cause.

Encountering Amaimon? No. A mere encounter would have been just that, and would have passed unnoticed.

Bribing him with cherry lollipops and entering into a custody arrangement with him? Okay. I can see where that could become a potential problem and might have put me on their watch list.

But, frankly, I think my problems really arose only after I ran into that hobgoblin in the flower garden. If he hadn't of stolen my purse, I seriously doubt I would have met any exorcists that day – and I don't think anyone would have ever found out I had befriended a Demon King.

The moral? It was _all _the hobgoblin's fault.

I rubbed my temples in frustration as I once again began mumbling to myself, "Oh who am I kidding? I brought this on myself…"

Yet, despite being fully aware of that, if given the opportunity I'd do the same thing all over again. I don't regret the decisions I made, after all. But that doesn't mean I liked dealing with the consequences of those decisions, rather I'd like to selfishly shove those consequences into some dark abysmal box, lock said box, throw away the key, bury it on a deserted island, and then get on with my life. But realistically that just wasn't possible.

Besides, what are a few attentive admirers? As long as they don't do something potentially harmful to my two demonic friends, they were just creepy nuisances who'd eventually figure out that we weren't hurting anyone and therefore choose to spend their time doing something more productive than following a cyan haired candy-shop employee twenty-four/seven.

_Ding!_

My attention was instantly drawn away from my stalkers by the sound of our front door opening, which meant that we had customers. Unfortunately, my coworker today wasn't the not-so-friendly, yet still somehow my friend, Chou, rather it was a newbie who had just started out a week ago, which meant I couldn't slack on the job – _at all_.

Actually, I could understand why my boss likely hired him even though we didn't really need any more employees. The guy was a wonderfully hard working and smart college freshman named Hibiki Kajahara, who could actually restock faster than I could despite it only being his second day out of training (which I think he owed to his being able to carry more candy at a time than me). Moreover, he was cute to boot and, like Chou, was already occasionally drawing in an older more-teenaged customer base with higher hormone levels, but he was so incredibly awkward with kids, our usual customers, I wondered why he applied to work here in the first place. I suppose it might be because our work schedules are fairly flexible and therefore compatible with school.

This awkwardness of his, however, meant that I had to deal with almost _all_ the customers, since most _were_ kids, albeit with their parents. I didn't mind per say, but I also wouldn't mind an occasional break from the customer service side of working in the shop. After all, catering to hyped up children was more exhausting than restocking could ever be.

Smacking my cheeks, I quickly disguised my stalker-caused nervousness with the mask of the perfect, eager to please employee and made my way to the front to greet our most recent customers.

I was instantly pleased with what I saw.

"Kotori! Y-you're here!" A small but eager voice called out.

My mask of a smile morphed into a genuine one as I greeted my familiar little friend at the door, "Michio!" The little boy waddled away from his mother and took my hands, which he pulled on three times – something I discovered recently was his strange version of a hug. As he did this, I turned to his mother, "Good day, Mrs. Oyama. Have you been well?"

The middle-aged woman smiled gently at me, "I have been, thank you. And yourself?"

"I have been as well, thank you."

I was drawn away from my polite conversation with Michio's mother, by Michio himself, "K-Kotori?" When I glanced down at the little boy, he was slightly flushed and looking up at me sheepishly. As cute as he was I couldn't resist the urge to squeeze his hands and kneel down so that I could meet him at his own level.

"Yes, Michio?"

Realizing we were now at eye level, his cheeks grew a little redder as he spoke, "M-my bear…you still have it, right?"

I smiled even wider, which I noted made the red on his cheeks spread over the rest of his face, "Of course! He watches over me every night, so I always feel safe! It's all thanks to you, thank you!"

His face glowed and his smile grew wide, "Yeah!"

After a few more moments of friendly chatter with the young boy, which was closely supervised by his mother, I got back up to my feet. "Since you're here, do you want to pick out some candy?" I glanced at Mrs. Oyama, "If it's alright with your mother, of course." His mother responded with a nod to me and a gesture to Michio meant to encourage him to explore the candy shop.

For about ten minutes, Michio had my undivided attention, however, I did have other customers, which meant eventually I had to leave his company. Fortunately, his mother was well aware of that fact. And after we had found some easy to chew candy – his mother I knew didn't like him eating hard candy – I accompanied the two to the register and then the door.

"Bye Michio! Thank you for visiting me again today. I really love it when you do."

The little boy smiled bashfully and once more took my hands, which he pulled on exactly three times, "I-I like seeing you too."

"I'm so glad to hear that! Will you visit me again then?"

The boy nodded fervently as he answered, "YEAH!"

When he released my hands and returned to his mother's side I addressed her as well, obviously thanking her for her patronage with a slight bow as was customary and expected. As had become routine, she smiled and thanked me for my kindness and for looking out for her son once again before leaving.

As of now, my smile was completely genuine and I felt absolutely wonderful. I loved it when Michio visited me. He was an incredibly a well-mannered, modest, and downright adorable child, and his presence brightened my day substantially. Enough that I had, for the time he was here at least, forgotten about the stressful situation I was currently swept up in. Unfortunately I was quickly reminded, since as I turned back towards the candy shop I caught sight of the two black figures _still_ conspicuously sitting at the café. As I met their quickly averted gazes, I stiffened in the arms of stress and visibly grimaced.

Frozen and distracted as I was by the two exorcists across the way, I didn't notice the approach of yet another curious person. Although, he was so small, I think most people wouldn't have.

He was a little white lap-dog with a giant pink, white-polka dot bow, which, if I may say so myself, was cute enough that I might wear it in my own hair or around my own neck. To be honest, I didn't actually realize he was there until I had finally broken out of my nervous stupor and abruptly turned to enter the candy shop. He was sitting between the door and I so I couldn't _not _see him, and his posture was unusually upright, I might add. But what made the entire situation so strange was that he simply sat there with his tail wagging unusually fast while staring at me with droopy eyes and his violet eyelids at half-mast, which gave the impression of extreme boredom and in combination with his posture almost made him seem _haughty_.

Actually, the bored countenance immediately made me think of Amaimon. After all, this dog's expression wasn't too far removed from Amaimon's typical one, so of course I'd think of the demon king.

Still though, why was there a dog sitting in front of the candy shop, staring at me? That _is_ unusual, right? Where was its master?

Breaking away from the awkward stare down with the odd hound, which seemed vaguely reminiscent of those I engaged in with Amaimon, I glanced around in hopes of finding an equally haughty potential owner in the general vicinity. I was unsuccessful. However, I suppose I could always ask around, or ask the hound himself. Supposing it couldn't hurt to attempt the latter first, I set my gaze back on the dog, speaking as I did so, "Hey, little guy, where's y-"

I stopped mid-sentence and frantically turned my head from side to side as I searched the nearby sidewalks.

He'd _disappeared_.

Confused, I examined my surroundings even more emphatically than I had before – paying no mind to the fact I likely looked harebrained; he couldn't have gotten that far so quickly, yet no matter where I looked there was absolutely no signs of there having been a dog in the vicinity.

Were my nerves starting to get to me? Was I starting to hallucinate as a result of stress? Or was this dog not only _haughty_ but a _ninja_ as well?

…A haughty ninja dog?

My eyebrows furrowed and my hands rose to clutch my cheeks in an expression of anguish and irritation. I am _not_ hallucinating! I'm not quite that far-gone _yet_. There was most definitely a white lapdog there! I _do_ have a higher tolerance for stress than this. I _have_ to have a higher tolerance for stress than this. For heaven's sake, I'm friends with a demon – I _need_ a higher tolerance for stress than this.

"Ms. Ueda? Are you alright?" Amidst my worried and irritated internal rambling, the masculine, steady, and very _real _voice brought a welcome break. Though, it was initially a surprising break and therefore when I heard my name so nearby I was somewhat startled and jumped to find whom it had come from.

Low and behold, my new coworker, Mr. Kajahara, had turned out to be the source. He was standing in the entrance to the candy shop, holding the door open while observing me with concerned and slightly confused eyes.

Of course, being the kind person he was and certainly not blind to my obvious reaction, he immediately apologized after seeing me start as I had, "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to sneak up on you." The somewhat awkward smile that followed his apology prompted me into quick response.

"Oh it's fine, and I'm fine. Just have…a _lot_ on my mind. That's all." Before continuing I returned his unsure grin with an energetic one of my own, "Did you need me for something?"

"Well, no." He admitted with a shrug and tiny wave away of the hand, "I just noticed you standing out here looking a little…um…" he paused and looked up, "_stressed_," and then returned his gaze to me, "and wanted to make sure you were alright."

In an attempt to ease his concern, I gave him an exaggerated but chill shrug then beamed, "Thanks for worrying but I'm A-Okay. Promise." As I spoke I headed inside and he naturally stepped out of the way, but still held the door for me, which I found to be very polite and therefore thanked him automatically while also giving him permission to call me by my first name – Ms. Ueda made me feel old, "Thanks, oh and by the way…you're way older than me, so just call me Kotori – hearing Ms. Ueda from you makes me feel like an old maid."

The college boy stared blankly at me for a moment, but as he processed the entirety of my statement his facial features wrinkled with poorly contained amusement and he snorted, "Okay then, I'll call you Kotori…but, you know, I'm only two years older than you – that hardly makes you an old maid yet."

I frowned, "_Yet?_ What are you implying?"

"Implying? I don't know what you mean." The two of us stared the other down in all seriousness up until all seriousness shattered and we couldn't keep from snickering at our mock squabble.

* * *

"_**When you find your path, you must ignore fear. You need to have the courage to risk mistakes. But once you are on that road... run, run, run, and don't stop till you've reached its end." **_

― _**José N. Harris**_

* * *

Four hours and the end of my night shift meant I was again sneaking peeks through the front door of the candy shop with the intent of locating my newest albeit unwanted fans. The café had closed about an hour ago so the two exorcists, which were not the same two from earlier in my shift as they apparently had switched places with two different ones who were no better at being inconspicuous, had disappeared from obvious sight.

Therefore, I found myself trying to find them before I began my walk home. Somehow, I felt like I'd rather know where exactly they were if they _were _indeed going to follow me home. At least that way I'd know whether they were going to pose an immediate threat and kidnap me.

Though I doubt they had any plans to do so.

Or maybe I hoped that was the case.

"Kotori? What are you doing?" The voice that came from behind me was startling. With a flinch, I tried to turn around to face the voice but did little more than slam the side of my head into the doorframe, which sent me yelping and reeling backwards into the arms of my coworker, Mr. Kajahara who instinctively caught me. "Whoa! Hey! Are you okay! I didn't mean to scare you…_again_…"

Gripping my head and immediately pulling away from my coworker, I did everything in my power to merely grumble my aggravation instead of outright voicing it, as I knew should I do so it would come out as a string of profanities, which wasn't very lady like.

Seriously though, why was it always my head getting hit?

After a second, I did manage to rein in my immediate reaction enough to respond to the poor guy, "I'm okay. I have a bit of a headache admittedly, but I think my pride received most of the damage."

"Are you sure? Let me look at it." What was I? A child? Sure, I can be a bit of a klutz from time to time, but as he had pointed out earlier, I'm not _that_ much younger than him.

Honestly, if it wasn't for the genuine worry and guilt I heard riding upon the tone of his voice, which was not so unlike a mother's concerned tone, I probably would have snapped at him and told him to mind his own business in the most colorful of terms. But as it happened, I instead opted to merely give him a look that communicated the point just as well.

"Or not…" his awkward tone of voice and quick avoidance of eye contact was sign enough that my message had been clearly received, so satisfied I turned away from him and refocused my attention on soothing the ache. Unfortunately, Mr. Kajahara seemed to be in a chatty mood, "So…I have to ask…"

_Except really you don't, _I couldn't stop the snarky thought, which was a direct result from the aggravating ache I'm sure, from crossing my mind as the man spoke.

"Are you always so jittery?"

"No." I stopped for a moment to reconsider my abrupt response, "…well, sometimes. But, today's a bit worse than usual."

I could almost hear his frown of curiosity, "Oh? Why is that?"

Without so much as a passing glance in his direction, I shrugged, "I'm having some personal problems is all."

"I see. Well I won't ask you to share them with me, but I do hope things improve…" there was a slight pause, and the air between us suddenly filled with an unusual tension – it was the type of tension that usually arose when someone wanted to say something but was considering whether or not to do so. From my peripheral, I could see that he was scratching his ear in an embarrassed manner, "will you be okay to walk home?"

My hand fell away from my head and I abruptly turned to face him directly. Was this line of questioning going where I think it might be going (and may be somewhere hoping it was – its flattering after all, plus I'd never had to reject a guy before!)? My heart fluttered a little with nervousness and I felt my cheeks start to redden, "Uh. Yeah. I'll be fine."

I then promptly felt my heart drop into my stomach and the red disappear from my face at his genuinely pleased response, "That's a relief."

He was just like an older brother; and I sensed I was little more than a _kid_ in his eyes. And a "jittery" kid at that. Geez, why were all the guys in my life so completely uninterested in me. I mean, sure, they liked me as a friend, but never more than that. And it doesn't even matter how many stereotypical awkward should-be romantically compromising situations we're put in, still _nada_. Seriously though, how does one end up in so many compromising positions with the same guy and yet that guy still doesn't even get the slightest bit bothered? Is it really so much to ask for that he's a little _bothered_? A normal guy would be more than a little _bothered_, right? It would stand to reason that, demon or not, a teenage boy of any species would be _bothered_.

Why wasn't Amaimon _bothered_?

Heaven knows I was – _every _time.

Why was I even thinking about that right now? That's totally unrelated to what was currently happening. Better yet, why do I even care? With a subtle headshake I reverted my attention back to Mr. Kajahara, "Well, then I guess I'll be off. You have the key to the shop, right?"

"Yes." He held up his own copy of the key.

"In that case, I'll let you lock up then. See you later!" With impressive expediency, I found myself rushing off towards my home, barely pausing to wave back at Mr. Kajahara when he issued a farewell of his own. This was in part due to the fact I was tired and didn't particularly care to continue carrying on in his company. But if I'm being completely honest, the major reason for my rush was that, though I did not know where they watched from, I could sense eyes on me (or maybe I just felt that way after being watched all day), and that made me highly uncomfortable and inspired me to hurry home.

Here's hoping that I don't get lost, despite being on my own tonight.

I found long ago that I consistently found my apartment in a timely manner when I was being lead around by my hobgoblin companion, however, on nights that I walked alone: I was less punctual.

This was one such night.

As I sped along the sidewalk I did what I normally didn't – I paid desperately close attention to my surroundings and the path I was taking. Perhaps I was in hopes I'd recognize landmarks or if someone did jump out at me I'd notice sooner rather than later.

Although, to be frank, it wasn't as though the streets were completely abandoned. Though not as busy as it was during the day, there were other travelers out and about. Some like me were going home, others were doing whatever it was they did at this time of night. So I was fairly confident they, whoever they were – exorcists I assumed – wouldn't do anything as long as there were witnesses. Still, it wasn't so easy to shake the nervousness I felt as I proceeded down my path.

The first turn, a right turn, I recognized easily. It had a brightly lit 'konbini' on the corner; specifically, it was a Family Mart that I often dived into when I was hungry or thirsty after or before work, so it was a turn that was difficult to forget even for me.

Gratefully, I turned down the illuminated street, I was at least starting off on the right path. However, my gratitude was short lived when I realized that for some odd reason the street was completely abandoned. Following my unhappy discovery, the lights of the konbini and nearby street lamps flickered and cast the sidewalk into a momentary ominous darkness that sent a shiver down my spine and froze me to the spot.

Perhaps I should have taken Mr. Kajahara up on his offer to walk me home. Actually, now that I think about it, I suppose by normal standards I'm lucky I've always managed to arrive home safely all these nights I work late. I mean, a teenage girl, usually lost, who can see demons, at night in the middle of a city? How has someone or something not attacked me all this time? And why do I wait until I'm alone at night in the middle of a darkened street to think about these terrifying things? That simply makes the situation worse and all the more frightening.

When the lights did finally flicker back on, a potentially imagined shadow seemed to move closer and my heart rate quickened shooting adrenaline into my veins and heightening my flight instinct. Thereby I took off in a panicky sprint towards the next turn, or what I guessed to be my next turn.

I was preparing to abruptly turn left and cross a street but my plan was interrupted and all together ruined by a haughty ninja dog, which I had _not_ imagined. I probably would have likely ran right by him if he hadn't of barked at me.

In all honesty, it was a strangely _adorable_ bark, even if did sound unusually artificial and not truly very dog like at all, and if I hadn't of been in so edgy a state I probably wouldn't have been so distraught by it either; actually, I probably would have oohed and awed. But alas, when the nearby and unusual sound reach my ears, I recoiled and shrieked in an all together far too dramatic and ridiculous a fashion and nearly fell onto my ass in the process. Luckily I managed to remain standing.

With my arms raised protectively between the little white pup and I, I processed the visual information and soon recognized two things: 1) I had totally overreacted just now, and 2) this was the same dog from earlier.

Like earlier, he still had that adorable polka-dot bow around his neck, still sat strangely upright, he still stared at me, and his eyes were still at half-mast. Although, assuming dogs had eyebrows, they were raised in such a way to imply some sort of less bored emotion. Maybe amused or curious? I couldn't really be sure. I mean, how was I to know what a dog was thinking?

Then he barked that little peculiar bark again. My arms, which had been gradually lowering, shot back up into their defensive positions and stepped back and away from the dog while speaking, well yelling might be more accurate, at him, "Oh no! Not this time! No more taking home lost animals no matter how cute they are!"

As I spoke I found myself looking down and away, I needed the image of the hound out of sight in order to avoid the temptation of his adorable allure. However, my eyes were eventually drawn back towards him when he barked again. This time however I noticed something I had not noticed before.

There was something attached to the tie around his neck. And for a moment I curiously wondered if the object had been there during my earlier encounter with the pup.

At first glance, I would have chosen to simply ignore the object and continue on my merry way, however there was something rather peculiar about said object, which meant that whether I cared to or not my eyes were drawn towards it even as I thought to snub it.

The object itself, I noted, was a note, or rather an envelope that likely carried a note. It was rather flamboyant for an envelope, with a color scheme and design to match the ostentatious motif of the pup and his (or her) bow. However, to be frank, with the number of pretentious people and things I come into contact with on a daily basis, the mere existence of any note is generally not enough to warrant my undivided attention no matter how ridiculous its design.

What made this particular envelope so special, however, was the presence of an addressee written in strangely bubbly and sickeningly happy script.

Of course, no matter how bubbly or happy the handwriting was, that too was not enough to garner my notice.

However, what was enough was the fact that the addressee was none other than myself.

_To: Kotori Ueda_

For a moment I merely blinked tirelessly and read, then reread the three words and single punctuation mark endlessly. Thoughts rolled around my skull, some clearer than the others and each varying in importance and relevance to the matter at hand. The main thoughts however consisted of: _should I be trying to take that note? _And _So he(or she)'s not just a haughty ninja dog, but a haughty messenger ninja dog?_

The relatively long moment, in which the only movement was the movement of my eyelids, was soon interrupted by the messenger dog, which broke the silence with a huffy bark. Perhaps it was my imagination, but it seemed to me the little pup was getting a little impatient.

My eyes narrowed ever so slightly in response and I crossed my arms indignantly, I somehow didn't like being pestered by a random white dog to speed thing up and get over my puzzlement at this rather extraordinary situation. After all, it wasn't every day one gets a random and somewhat over-the-top note delivered to you by an equally extravagant haughty messenger ninja dog. "Don't bark at me. I have every right to be confused."

Assuming dogs could deadpan or roll their eyes, I'm fairly certain that this one did both before barking again to reiterate that he wanted me to go ahead and take the note. Despite still continuing to dislike his attitude, I did eventually accede to the pushy pup's demand, albeit not without a huff of my own. "So impatient." I muttered while reaching out and taking the note from around his neck.

As soon as I did so, the pup stood suddenly and then proceeded to continue on his merry way. I watched the ninja dog waddle away for a little while, wearing a rather dumbfounded expression as I did, but as he rounded a nearby corner, I turned towards the only evidence that this bizarre encounter had ever occurred.

The note.

As I stared at it, I also began to unintentionally sniff the air - a sugary sweet smell not unlike the one in the candy shop was wafting by nose. Having the envelope so nearby, I realized…was it _scented_?

What kind of curious person has scented notes?

Well, obviously the same kind who sends little white haughty messenger ninja dogs to deliver them.

I rubbed my nose, perhaps in an attempt to erase the sultry sweet scent or perhaps as a nervous tick, while I flipped and turned the envelope in my grasp – analyzing it for any hint or indication whom the sender was without necessitating opening it. Opening mail in the middle of a dark street was not the wisest of ideas after all.

Which reminds me: I really should be hurrying myself along.

* * *

I think I might have set a new record for myself. This was the fastest I had ever arrived at my apartment without the aid of Behemoth. Apparently, the knowledge that I may have potential stalkers following me was motivation enough for my feet to take me along the proper path.

Or perhaps, chasing Behemoth along the same path everyday was more helpful to my memory than I give it credit for.

Kicking off my shoes at the front door I slugged through the hallway towards my bedroom door. I was exhausted – what with exorcist stalkers, new semi-useless co-workers, and haughty messenger ninja dogs who wouldn't be - and wanted nothing more than to leap into bed. However, as I closed the bedroom door behind me and began undressing a sultry sweet smell floated into the air and scratched my nose.

"Uh…Uh…AH-choo~!" Rubbing my nose again, I sniffled and directed my gaze to my freshly made pile of littered clothing. I had almost forgotten about the note in my pant's pocket. Bending over, I fished out the odorous envelope and stared at it once again.

_To: Kotori Ueda_

I suppose this was as good a time as any to open it.

My glance quickly turned towards and narrowed upon my bedroom window.

I should probably dress first.

Setting the note on my nightstand, I hastily threw on my worn out sleep wear. Afterwards, I turned back to the note and picked it up once again. Carefully, I peeled the flap of the envelope back until I was able to reveal the contents within, which I quickly removed. Unsurprisingly, the equally extravagant letter paper I uncovered didn't surprise me. I think at this point I would only have been shocked to find a completely average letter.

Ignoring the atrociously pink and purple thematic color scheme and puppy stickers, I focused instead on the bubbly characters of the message (which was littered with scribbled emoticons).

_Dear Kotori Ueda,_

_I apologize for the suddenness of my letter, I'm sure it must have come as such a surprise. But I just couldn't wait any longer.. After all, I've heard so much about you from my cute little brother, Amaimon_…

Wait…what? I reread the last line out loud, "_my…cute little brother, Amaimon_?" Was this the same brother that beat Amaimon up that last time? Unintentionally a shiver ran down my spine and I was tempted to simply throw the note away, but a combination of curiosity and fear of what he might do if I ignored his letter (I knew well enough that Amaimon hated being ignored – it seemed fair to assume his brother would have the same tendency) kept me reading.

…_Amaimon. __I feel as though I know you already~! _

I shivered at the thought of someone I'd never met knowing intimate details of my life – especially a scary, violent, demon with weird taste in stationary, then I flipped the note over to continue reading what was written on the back.

_Anyway, I would very much like to finally meet you face-to-face, so if you could come to my home, Johann Faust's Residence on the upper floor of True Cross Academy, two days from today that would be wonderful. So that you don't get lost, I'll send my butler, Belial, to escort you after you finish working~ I look forward to meeting you! XD _

_~Mephisto Pheles _

I wasn't even sure where to begin pointing out all the problems I had with this letter. First and foremost, it looked like it had been written by a teenaged girl - a really young teenaged girl at that. It was scented with an overly sweet scent that made me sneeze repeatedly throughout the entire ordeal of reading it. Amaimon's older brother, whom I knew nothing about beyond his apparent violence towards Amaimon, wrote it. Moreover, he seemed to know my daily schedule far too well for my liking. (I'm not even going to begin thinking about the fact that his name was Mephisto Pheles and he was apparently staying in Johann Faust's residence – the scandal of that alone boggled my mind.)

But more than anything, I think what bothered me the most was that it was conveniently _one-sided_.

What if I didn't want to go meet him at his _house_. That didn't seem like it would be safe _at all_. Plus, with my being stalked by exorcists, wouldn't visiting yet another powerful demon at his home make me look even more suspicious than I suspect I already did?

It was ironic. The letter was actually written with such a friendly tone, yet conveniently seemed rather unfriendly and well plotted. A phone call allowed for a two-way dialogue, so I _could_ reject him. Even normal post at least gave me an address to write back to.

As it were now, I had the distinct notion I didn't really have a choice whether to go or not to go.

I was beginning to feel like a rabbit with nowhere left to run. I had two paths in front of me, but one led straight into a hunter's iron cage and the other into the jaws of a clever fox. Even my own rabbit hole, (aka apartment) didn't offer me sanctuary since I knew for a fact that the exorcists probably knew where I lived (I had after all let an exorcist in training walk me home – probably the stupidest decision of my life).

Moreover, I wasn't sure if I should tell Amaimon or not. I knew I'd feel ten times safer going to meet his brother with him there – although I'll be the first to admit that my reasoning was a little flawed. I had little to guarantee Amaimon would or could keep me safe even if he were there, so I really shouldn't feel safer in his company. Yet somehow, as illogical as it may be, I still did.

I stared at the note. Still sniffling from the scent. All the while deliberating my options, or rather trying to come up with some.

"…smells sweet."

This was the precise reason why I was so keen on dressing before reading the note. I blinked and turned my head towards the speaker. Looking over my shoulder was none other than my green-haired demon king friend, Amaimon. Normally, I'd probably scream in surprise, but having this occur on an almost daily basis had desensitized me to the shock it seems. Although, it hadn't desensitized me to the annoyance.

"…Amaimon…" I glanced away from the demon towards my bedroom window. As I suspected, it was open. "Would you _please_ stop climbing into my bedroom through my window."

"What is _that_?" As he spoke, he directed a pointed finger over my other shoulder towards my letter.

I sighed and did my best to ignore his awfully close proximity and my slowly reddening cheeks, "Please don't ignore me, Amaimon…"

"It smells like candy…" I saw his hand reaching out from behind me, and instinctually I moved my letter out of reach.

Turning to face him while simultaneously moving to create distance between us, I allowed myself to get swept up in the topic change, "It's _not_. It's a letter – letters aren't edible."

Now that I could actually get a good look at my demonic friend I saw that he looked liked he usually did – bored. Although, despite his bored expression, he stood there with his free hand gripping his chin, much in the same fashion a detective would, which led me to believe that he wasn't quite as bored as one might think.

"A letter?" He cocked his head, but didn't attempt to come closer or take it from me. A positive sign that he wasn't going to eat it I think (not that I thought he would, just that he might – it did smell like candy after all…)

"Yes…actually," I glanced at it again and held it as if to show it to him, "it's from you older brother…Mephisto Pheles?" The latter part was admittedly a question – I figured Amaimon would at least be able to verify that the sender was indeed whom he said he was. I also didn't immediately assume Amaimon might not like the idea that I was getting letters from his family and didn't think it would be a problem to ask him about it.

I think I might have been wrong to do so, however.

Especially since he froze and stared blankly at me before blinking twice and setting an unhappy glare on the letter. I flinched. As I always did when I saw that dangerous expression. After all, something disastrous almost always seemed to follow one of Amaimon's glares. However, I also preemptively took the initiative to hide the letter from imminent destruction. And what better place than behind _me?_

I don't think I actually thought that through all the way.

Let's consider for a moment what might happen if the object of his current aggression were to disappear. Of course, it could be that his aggression might disappear as well – however, that would be too lucky. More likely is that he'd direct that irritation towards the person or thing _hiding_ the irritant. The latter being exactly what Amaimon did.

So when I rearranged myself in order to assure that I was standing with my back in a corner and the note behind my back and out of sight, I quickly became the target of Amaimon's glare.

Despite his glaring, he continued to hold his chin while he queried (though it sounded more like a statement than a question if I'm being completely honest), "My…older brother."

"Um…yes?"

For heaven's sake, I hate the demon's ability to move faster than I can track! Amaimon, who had been at least five paces away from me upon my uncertain answer, had come within a hair's breadth of me and was trying to grab the note I had lodged between my back and the wall. Fortunately, I had the positional advantage and a delightful flight instinct that made me recoil backwards anyhow, so the space between my back and the wall became practically none existent and completely impossible for Amaimon's hand to fit into without first moving me (or the wall, but he wouldn't do that…right?).

Having been met with an unexpected resistance, Amaimon, who had momentarily set his sights on the space, met my stare once more. Despite his facial expression, which was the very picture of indifferent, his eyes clearly read something different, irritation and slight amusement.

My face, by this point, likely read tomato. It wasn't that long ago that we had discussed personal space, was it? Had he forgotten already? "A-Amaimon…please back up…"

"Give me." As he issued his order, he withdrew his hand from it precarious position by my side and held it expectantly in from of my face. My nose twitched. Not only had he ignored me _again_, he'd _ordered_ me to give him _my_ letter. I was tempted to just outright say no, but, likely thanks to his close proximity, the blood rushing to my cheeks, my fluttering heart, and finally my outright frustration, I did something much stupider. I teased him.

"Give you _what?_ I don't have anything."

At first, there didn't seem to be any response by Amaimon to my teasing and outright lie. However, after a moment the stare that had been set on my face flickered towards the space between the wall and my back and then returned to my face. His eyebrows had furrowed almost unnoticeably, as if he felt the slightest bit troubled, and I found myself unable to stop a little smile from working its way onto my face. He reminded me of a kid trying to work out a difficult puzzle.

In this moment, I couldn't help thinking he was adorable (nor could I help wondering why I hadn't teased him sooner…a thought which was given an extensive list of responses). However the moment soon past and my smile quickly vanished only to be replaced by a grimace of surprise.

Apparently, I wasn't actually a difficult puzzle to figure out.

I don't even recall feeling or seeing it happen, but one moment I had both hands and the letter behind my back, and the next, Amaimon was holding both my hands and the letter in between us. He was both stronger and faster than me, and that was as apparent now as it has ever been. My best guess as to what happened was that Amaimon had simply grabbed my arms and forcefully moved them, which was an action that I hadn't had time enough to register and react to and therefore it was not met with any resistance.

"Uh…" I stared first at my hands then the note, until my eyes gradually worked their way down to the hands that held my wrists in a firm yet surprisingly gentle grip. I tried briefly to pull my hands free but quickly discovered the futility of such efforts and instead directed an irritated scowl at the demon holding them.

The heat that raced to my cheeks when I realized just how close the demon was to me melted my scowl, however. He wasn't really even looking at _me_ rather his impassive gaze was eyeing the scented letter that was no longer hidden from him, which made the proximity at least a little more bearable. Still, I really valued my personal space. "…Amaimon..."

I instantly regretted saying his name, because the moment it left my lips, his attention turned solely to me – letter seemingly forgotten. Though I was unable to pull my hands away I still found myself wishing I could sink farther into my wall and away from his weirdly detached yet still somehow intense gaze, maybe I could sink so far I'd end up in the room on the other side.

Maybe it was due to my instinctual awareness that he could so easily overpower and kill me, but caught as I was in his grip between the wall and his gaze I could easily sense my heart rate accelerating with the rush and intensity of my emotions.

Yet, despite my assumption that my heart rate was due to how dangerous Amaimon technically was, I found that nowhere in that mix of emotions welling up was fear. I honestly, wasn't afraid of Amaimon. No these emotions were far more girlish than I'd care to admit to.

Still, despite the overwhelming urge to avoid his stare, I stubbornly held his deadpan eyes with my heated ones in a vain attempt to will him into releasing me with my gaze alone. It was an unsuccessful endeavor that only served to goad him into leaning in apparently.

It took me a full quarter second to realize he was coming closer and to have a full on nervous breakdown. My eyes widened and my already heated face and ears became unbearably warm and served as the power behind my forcibly pushing harder against the wall behind me. But seeing as how I wasn't strong enough to push _through_ the wall, I found myself failing in creating any extra distance between his approaching face and mine.

My heart rate skyrocketed and I fought to maintain even breathing while I tried and failed miserably to deduce the demon's ultimate goal in his swift approach. This entire situation began with this stupid letter. So I assumed his ultimate goal in all of this was the letter. Yet, that told me nothing about why he needed to continue to get so close to me. Moreover, his eyes continued to tell me nothing.

They were as blank as they ever had been while they held mine, and while I have grown more accustomed to identifying which blank look was associated with which one of his seemingly limited number of emotions, in my flustered state I was unable to deduce the meaning of this rather foreign one. Perhaps, I should give up trying to analyze that Noh mask of his and simply ask him?

Struggling to gather my thoughts, I began the process of formulating a question, "Uh…um…A-Amaimon, what are you- AH?!"

* * *

"_**Behind every wolf in sheep's clothing is a trail of dead sheep" **_

_**~Rassool Jibraeel Snyman**_

* * *

Breaking our stare down, I blinked. Once. Twice. Three times. He didn't. He couldn't of. That would be weird. Yet, the evidence was undeniable. I couldn't deny what I saw and I couldn't deny the feeling of his mouth and tongue nor this extraordinarily extraordinary situation.

For a moment, I simply stood in shock at the ordeal, allowing the flush of my face to recede before returning full force.

My shaken eyes fell to livid slits as I glared at him and especially his offending mouth, which had encompassed the entirety of the scented note I was still barely holding in my hand, all the while I was also trying desperately to fight the embarrassed flush lightening up my face and pointedly betraying my anger.

But that was easier said then done, since to defeat my blush I'd first have to ignore the sensation of his lips against the knuckle of my index finger and the tip of my thumb, as well as the feeling of his tongue coaxing the letter rather successfully out of my grip.

But let's face facts, how many hormonal teenage girls could ignore _that_? For goodness sake, if I weren't certain he wasn't doing it on purpose, I'd think he was doing it on purpose.

The demon blinked in response to my glare, before I distinctly noticed the sudden absence of his tongue against my fingers and the feeling of a set of something hard and smooth replacing it.

"EEP!" Releasing the letter completely, I stared horrified at Amaimon as he pulled his head and therefore the letter away from me. Without so much as a twitch in his pokerfaced façade, he dramatically chewed and swallowed the letter I had been holding only moments before.

At this point I wasn't even sure where to begin scolding him.

I could start with the fact he had quite literally just eaten my letter only moments after I told him it wasn't edible – never mind the fact it was _my_ letter. Or I could begin with the fact that he had just nipped me – the mere thought of which sent me into a mental tizzy that had me fighting to keep my legs from turning completely to jelly. I dismissed beginning with his firm grip on my arms since at the moment that grip and the wall behind me might have been the only thing holding me up.

"Hm…that wasn't sweet…" I watched Amaimon's nose wrinkle ever so slightly and his eyebrows furrow in notable disgust.

I suppose I'd start with that then, "Amaimon!" Lazily, he retuned his attention to me, which gave me the needed cue to continue, "you _ate_ my letter!"

He blinked, "It wasn't very good."

I grinded my teeth together, and yanked a little on my arms in a moment of annoyance, "Of course it wasn't! It's a letter! You're not supposed to eat it! I _told_ you that!"

"…" he cocked his head in response to my outburst, "you're…angry." He almost sounded surprised.

"Yes! I'm angry! It was _my _letter! Why in the world did you eat it!?" As I finished my statement, I noticed his unsympathetic gaze flicker to my arms, which he still had a firm grip on, before he impishly flapped them about. This triggered an irate twitch of the eye and subsequently led to a renewed anger fed vigor in my legs and arms, which I used to desperately try to wave and pull my arms free.

Hilariously, I successfully moved them since his arms had apparently gone limp, but I could not successfully shake him loose. Still, my frustration wouldn't allow for me to give up my annoyed flailing. Left, right, up, and down, over and over. Finally, I stopped to catch my breath and stare at my arms; all that waving and I still couldn't get him to let me go.

Huffing, I stared deadpan at Amaimon, "Amaimon…let go, _please_."

He blinked once, "No."

"Why not!?"

There was a deliberate pause, during which my demonic friend seemed to expend an unusual amount of effort in answering my question (for the first time that night too), "You're angry."

Closing my eyes, I drew in a calming breath. "So?"

Again, there was a thoughtful pause, which if I hadn't of been so irritated, I might have found suspicious in a person I had assumed to be usually less than thoughtful. "You might hit me."

I snapped to attention at his response and stared at Amaimon before responding, "So you won't let me go because you think I'll hurt you?"

"You're too weak to hurt me." I puffed my cheeks and furrowed my brows in response to his statement – even if it was true, I didn't really appreciate him stating it. With a pop, I opened my mouth to tell him as much but he beat me to it, "Ah~ but it would still be annoying if you hit me."

It was strange to me, admittedly, that his final comment almost seemed like an after thought, especially since theoretically that very comment contained the main reason he wouldn't let me go if he didn't think I could hurt him.

Nonetheless, I pushed my suspicious thoughts aside in favor of using this information to free myself from my vulnerable position against the wall, "Well, I promise I won't hit you, now let me go."

The demon blinked and cocked his head, "you promise?"

"Yes, and I keep my promises; now let me _go_."

It took a few awkward moments of silence but after they had passed, Amaimon did exactly that and took a few steps back. Finally free, I found myself gently massaging the places where Amaimon hands had been only seconds before, as well as checking for any unlikely damage. Unsurprisingly, since his vice grip had been unexpectedly gentle throughout the entire ordeal the only obvious discoloration I had was on the knuckle of my index finger, where Amaimon had nipped me.

I immediately felt the mental (and extremely hormonal) tizzy once again at the thought and memory of his lips, tongue, and teeth. Instinctually, I hid my slightly discolored index finger under my other hand and looked up in a desperate attempt to avoid fantasizing – only to see Amaimon – the very person I was currently fantasizing about.

This may come as no surprise but I was having a very hard time staying on topic and this had been a very stressful day and, suddenly, I felt extremely feverish.

Trying to coax some fresh air down into my shirt and cool off, I pulled a little at the collar of my pajamas. Then I again looked at Amaimon, who, by that point, had cocked his head again. Though this time, for some reason, there almost seemed to be an amused hint in the way his head tilted, though I couldn't really put my finger on why I thought he seemed entertained (or why he would be entertained for that matter).

Nonetheless, I found the matter currently unimportant – instead I felt it best to address the problem of his biting me (eating letters, biting people – at this point I felt like I was training a puppy – the image of which helped to avoid my becoming a helpless hormonal mess again).

Gathering all my earlier frustration I put my hands on my hips and addressed Amaimon once again, "Amaimon, about you…um…well – _biting _me: just don't. Ever. Again."

Amaimon blinked, all likely imagined amusement gone, while his tilted head straightened and one hand shot up to hold his chin in the same fashion he had earlier in the night. It seemed a strange position to take in response my request since I didn't really think it required all that much contemplation and such a position gave the impression of contemplation. "Why not?"

My mouth opened a little, in obvious shock and awe that he would ask me that, "Well, for starters you might have really hurt me…"

He blinked again, "I didn't." I opened my mouth to respond that he _could_ have, but never got the chance to since once again, Amaimon was faster, "And…you didn't dislike it."

There were many things I could probably have said in response to that, but no matter how hard I tried I found that in my shock, I couldn't gather my thoughts or words well enough to do anything more than flounder about with vague stuttering and unintelligible speech sounds. All the while, my face was gradually heating up with undisguised guilt, because heaven knows he wasn't wrong, and embarrassment, because he had caught me red-handed.

When finally I did settle on a statement it wasn't even a denial, rather it was a frantic announcement of my intention to flee from the conversation, "I'm going to bed! There's the window! _Good Night!_"

With those closing statements, I promptly avoided all eye contact as I sped by him and dived beneath my bed sheets, which could and would serve as a makeshift shield from his impassively amused gaze (or what I assumed would be his impassively amused gaze – I couldn't see it from beneath my covers – for all I know it might have only been impassive.)

I waited until I heard my window close – signaling that he had left and that I was free to come out from my sanctuary, but when I didn't hear it after a long while, I risked a glance around the room.

When I made eye contact with Amaimon, who had decided to kneel at my bedside for whatever reason, I couldn't help my surprised squeal or resist diving back beneath the sheets where I planned on staying until I had some form of confirmation Amaimon had left.

Of course we all know how goes the best-laid plans, and I admittedly didn't have hope for this poorly devised one. But who knows, maybe for once something wouldn't go awry?

"I don't like being ignored." Amaimon's slightly muffled voice came from above me, which told me he had once again changed locations, although that wasn't what surprised me. Rather it was that, instead of annoyed, which he usually was when he said things such as that, he sounded strangely playful. Like he did when I would offer him candy or when we'd play a game.

Unable to resist the urge, I peeked out from beneath my shield just enough to show my eyes and responded, "I know that."

As I had assumed, Amaimon had indeed changed locations. He was sitting on my headboard leaning down to look at me in that unusual and uniquely gravity defying fashion of his. "Then don't." He poked my forehead, I frowned "it's annoying."

"A lot of things annoy you, Amaimon." He blinked, "You don't like being ignored, you don't like being bored, you don't like being told what to do, you don't like eating paper…except for sweets, games, and behemoth, I don't really know what all you _do_ like."

I stared at his bored countenance, waiting for a response but unfortunately his reply was not really the reply I was looking for, "I don't like sharing with anyone."

Rolling my eyes I replied, "Yes, I knew _that _too."

"Especially my brothers." This gave me pause, while it didn't surprise me – seeing as how siblings even amongst humans often have a difficult time sharing as well – I did get the sense it had some kind of deeper meaning (beyond the fact 'brothers' was obviously plural).

"Your brothers?" The uttered question was more for my benefit than Amaimon's, an attempt to voice my thoughts for consideration while I reached a conclusion about Amaimon's intended message, "You don't want me to meet your brother, do you?"

"…I _don't_ like sharing."

I snorted, "Just say it if you want to say it." I waited for a moment, but it was pretty clear that beyond a vague narrowing of his impatient stare I wasn't going to get much more of a response. "_Okay - okay…_I can do that."

* * *

"_**I keep turning over new leaves, and spoiling them, as I used to spoil my copybooks; and I make so many beginnings there never will be an end. (Jo March)"**_

― _**Louisa May Alcott**_

* * *

This chapter didn't go at all as planned. Nor did I get as far as I wanted. But, it was starting to get way too long so I kind of needed to end it here. I admittedly wasn't expecting Amaimon and Kotori's interaction to be as long as it was but I started having way too much fun writing it and couldn't stop…

Anyway – I hope you enjoyed my chapter nonetheless and as an apology for my delay:

* * *

_Chapter Epilogue:_

"By the way, Amaimon," I narrowed a suspicious glare on the green-haired demon, "where is Behemoth?" The hobgoblin was almost always a few paces behind Amaimon, yet, I had yet to see him this night.

There was a pregnant pause, during which Amaimon did little more than stare purposely at me, and when he finally did make a noise that's all it was, a noise. "Hm."

I threw the covers off of me and promptly sat up, "What do you mean, '_hm_'? Don't tell me you lost him!?"

"No."

"Then where is he?" I soon received my answer when I heard a very loud crash from another place in my apartment. A place I assumed to be my kitchen due to the very plate-like sounding shatter.

Leaping to my feet I made a run to the kitchen, but by the time I arrived the only thing I found was the mess of broken tableware on the floor and an open cabinet – no Behemoth. I stole one more glance around the kitchen before I realized something rather important. The open cabinet was my candy cabinet.

"Those little-" I didn't finish the enraged statement as I turned on my heels and ran back to my bedroom as fast as I could. I arrived only in time to see Behemoth and Amaimon leaping from my bedroom window, stolen candy in hand. Fast on their heels, I reached the windowsill in time to see them land on the next building, "Hey! Get back here with my candy!"

Unfortunately, by the time I'd yelled out at them, it was already too late. I'd been robbed of all my candy by my personal demonic duo.

A small smile fought its way onto my face nonetheless; I'd have to restock it all, but, honestly, that's okay, after all, I can always do that.


End file.
